Source: The State of S. Paulo (São Paulo - SP) - 28/05/2012

Without fanfare, President Dilma Rousseff started to do what she calls “results” tax reform. The change in PIS-Cofins is considered fundamental by the Planalto Palace to end the distortions of the tax model. With this diagnosis, Dilma is willing to use the same strategy adopted at the beginning of the month, when she announced changes in savings, to garner support for the new measures.

Government officials are already talking to businessmen, governors, mayors and union members about the issue, in an attempt to trim edges and reduce resistance to the proposal. The president knows that she will not be able to implement a major tax reform anytime soon and, therefore, she decided to appeal to specific actions in some areas.

In Dilma's assessment, the tax structure in Brazil appears on the list of the three main obstacles to the country's growth, alongside interest and exchange rates. “I think that, in fact, there is inadequate taxation in Brazil,” said the president to an audience formed by mayors who participated in the March for the Defense of Municipalities, on the 15th. “We tax fundamental inputs, for example, for the development of the country. I don't know many countries that tax electricity. We tax ”.

Schedule. After the changes in savings - approved by the population, according to research that reached the Plateau -, Dilma will invest more and more in the reform calendar, even if sliced. The theme is classified by the economic team as a “positive agenda”.

In less than three months, the government has already gotten the green light from Congress for the Supplementary Social Security Fund for the Civil Servant (Funpresp) and for Resolution 72, which ended the incentives given by States in imports and triggered the ICMS reform process. In addition, Dilma edited the Provisional Measure that changed the rules of savings.

Now, while aligning the new PIS-Cofins, which will even have its name changed, the government is also working to approve in Congress the Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC) that deals with the collection of ICMS on internet sales. The bill has already passed the Senate's Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ).

In all the conversations about the tax system and the tax burden, Dilma says it is useless to wait to do a “dream reform” without attacking localized problems. For Dilma, the current model concentrates investments in a few regions and needs to be modified. The president believes, however, that the port war is a “greater evil” to be fought.