Tag: Tax reform

Dilma follows sliced ​​reform strategy

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.

Economist delivers tax reform proposal to Mantega

Source: Yahoo Brazil - 24/05/2012

BRASILIA. This Thursday, economist Paulo Rabello de Castro, who coordinates the Brazil Efficient Movement, presented a tax reform proposal to Finance Minister Guido Mantega and Vice President Michel Temer on Thursday. Called “Agenda for the Accelerated Advancement of Brazil”, the text contains guidelines until 2022 and was formulated by the entity Group of Business Leaders (Lide).

According to Paulo Rabello, who was accompanied by the businessman and president of Lide, João Doria Júnior, the Brazilian tax burden will correspond this year to 37% of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product, sum of wealth produced in one year). And, according to the proposal, it could fall to 30% by 2022, with an increase in revenue.

This is the cat's leap, according to the economist: by simplifying the collection of taxes - including with the unification of the ICMS -, cutting interest rates, improving management and increasing competitiveness, he is betting that the government would promote economic growth and, thus, compensate the decrease in taxes.

- The main focus of Agenda Brasil is to give even more strength to the investment plan that is already underway and that can be quite accentuated, if there is a renegotiation of the terms of the states' debt - said Paulo Rabello, after the meeting with Mantega and Fear in the early afternoon, in the Vice-Presidency, in a building attached to the Planalto Palace.

- (That) will help governors and mayors to implement more useful investments for the population in the interior of the country. Hundreds, thousands of municipalities benefiting from a release of funds that today go, in a sterile way, to pay interest.

João Doria said that Lide and the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp) invited Mantega to debate the topic in early July, in São Paulo. According to João Doria, Mantega agreed.

Paulo Rabello stated that Mantega was receptive to the proposal and praised the measures taken by the government to face the international crisis:

- We are supporting Minister Guido Mantega to bring interest to normal levels. Interest in Brazil is loan shark interest - said the economist.

The tributary who studies mythology

Source: Gazeta do Povo Online (Curitiba - PR) - 25/05/2012

Defender of the neutral ICMS, without any exemption and with the same rates for the whole of Brazil, the lawyer Sacha Calmon is against the prohibition of the states to use their expenses to make fiscal policy. The Minas Gerais accent deceives and makes one think that the tax lawyer is not Salvadoran. A Flamengo and Bahia supporter, Calmon justifies his choice by explaining that in Minas, the state where he lives, “he doesn't have a team”. A worshiper of sertão food, the former federal judge was able to visit the Northeast when he was still a child and accompanied his father, who was an engineer and worked on the Transnordestina railway. In the interview with Gazeta do Povo, Calmon defended the privatization of Brazilian infrastructure, the reduction of consumption taxes and a more flexible labor regime.

What is your opinion about the bill for the unification of ICMS taxes?

When the tax reform took place, in amendment number 1 of the 1966 Constitution, shortly after the 1964 Revolution, the ICM was created to replace the IVC. States levied sales and consignment taxes. It was a cumulative tax, it gave no credit. So it was an extremely inflationary tax. And we imported from Europe the introduction of VAT, a value added tax. At that time, the competence to collect value added taxes, which is the case with the ICMS, was either from the federal government, when the state was organized as a federation, or it was from the national state, because there were no states, there was no problem. This is the case of France, Portugal, Italy. In Germany there was already a state. Result: the competent one was the union. Brazil contradicted and allowed the states to become competent. But then it almost castrated their competence. It defined everything in a Senate resolution. The states did not give up and started to give incentives that they should not give, because this tax is incompatible with extra-fiscal purposes. Hence the fiscal war was born. This shooting that, in my opinion, delays the development of Brazil.

After this explanation, I say the following: I am in favor of neutral ICMS, without any exemption, without any reduction in the calculation base and with the same rates for the whole of Brazil and charged in the state of destination, as it is in Europe. It is now wrong to prohibit states from pursuing fiscal policy with their spending. States have to make this policy of attracting investments with expenditure, clearly, to know how much they are spending to attract companies, to promote industrial development, job creation. Because when you give up revenue, you don't know anything, you don't even know if the incentive policy is being productive or not. Especially because as it is a tax that has repercussions in other states, the consequence is that fight, this legal confusion, dangerous demand for credit and a bad business environment, there is a lot of uncertainty, legal uncertainty.

Minister Guido Mantega said that resolution 72, passed in the Senate, is the first step towards Tax Reform. Do you agree?

He is referring exactly to the ICMS Tax Reform, which is not imposed by him, is imposed by the states. This question of ports, originally, was to set a zero rate. Because you gave advantage, in any port, to not pay anything of ICMS. Now, in the subsequent transaction, you will pay an interstate or internal rate that is due, without credit. So the person who imported did not pay, but the person who charged the importer, will pay in his place. That was the idea, canceling the incentive by zeroing, that I don't transfer credit.

Because what the ports were doing was this: you don't have to pay anything and then I put in the tax book that you paid 18%, but you didn't pay. The taxpayer in the other state believed in that 18% and abated the tax he had to pay in the other state. And the other state said: I will not accept, you did not pay anything, you are transferring the burden to my consumer, because you did not give me any exemption, just transferred the moment of payment to him. So Mantega's idea was to eliminate this illegal incentive, and in the subsequent operation, with a full rate, zero imports were recovered. Then the states said they wanted compensation and put the rate at 4%. I mean, then you pay 4% and also only transfer 4%.

How do you think Brazil can face international competitiveness today, especially China, without being protectionist? It's possible?

I think so. We have to do, in the medium term, some things, like improving the infrastructure, which means privatizing it all. The federal government's investment capacity is 3,7% of GDP, we need 24% investment. It is also necessary to reduce consumption taxes, they are the ones that make things made in Brazil more expensive. And we must have a more flexible labor regime, if what is happening in Europe is not going to happen. It has a lot of protection and a lot of unemployment. Credit has to fall, these interest rates in Brazil are absurd, they are loan sharks. And lastly, the technological revolution, innovation. So our agenda is long term. Now, I think protectionism is not a good thing, because you accommodate those who are tight.

You are the author of the book The History of Judeo-Christian Mythology. What led you, as a lawyer, to dedicate yourself to this matter?

Because, incredible as it may seem, Law was born from religions. Because in the past, to make people stay on the straight path, the norm was religious. God punishes, God sends to hell, it was the Criminal Law, religious. And in law, to reward is to go to heaven. So actually, religions, if you look at it, they are myths, mythological. The book is very big, there are 800 and so many pages. And I bring the collection of great authors who have already dealt with the birth of law. It is a legal, critical view of religions.

Do you have any religion?

No, I'm an agnostic.

How long did it take you to write?

Five years. Basically it was an obsession, because I was raised very "catholically". My parents inculcated me with a religion very full of guilt, of sin, a religion of fear, and I decided to shake off this irrationality. We are even afraid to write and be punished, because there is already a terrible God, a punishing God.

What do you like most, now that the obsession is over?

I like good literature, everything that is good, good wines, good music.

What is your favorite literature?

I like the cop a lot, I like Agatha Christie, I like Dan Brown, I think he's outstanding. From Umberto Eco. From the Nobel Prize in Portugal, Saramago.

[Stop talking and watch a Euro game playing on television in the hotel lobby]

Do you like football?

I like.

What team do you support?

IM flamenguista.

But aren't you a miner?

I am, but there is no team there. I'm Bahia and Flamengo.

But Bahia?

It's because I was born there.

Which city in Bahia?

Salvador.

So you are from Salvador?

Soteropolitano, the city of Salvador. Sotero in Greek is the savior ...

And why did you adopt Flamengo?

I adopted Flamengo because Dad was an engineer. So he was making a railway, the Transnordestina, and I followed as a boy. And in the Northeast, of ten Northeasterners, eight are flamenco. In Piauí everyone is Flamengo. Flamengo fills the stadium. Flamengo can play there in any city in the Northeast where the fans are all Flamengo. I do not know why. There are very few Vasco's, Fluminense.

So, did you know the northeast enough during childhood?

I knew why the road left Salvador and went towards Sergipe, Alagoas, Paraíba, Pernambuco, it left. And I was between five and ten years old because of this road.

Article - Resume reform

Source: Brasil Econômico (São Paulo - SP) - 24/05/2012

Recent measures taken by the government of President Dilma Rousseff have enabled the creation of a more favorable environment for the approval of tax reform in the country. The debate over reform is paralyzed in the National Congress because governors lack involvement in the issue, without which, it will not be possible to approve a broad and complete reform.

With no signs that this situation will change, the federal government decided to change its strategy and began to modify the taxation of certain sectors and to seek the formation of a scenario that encourages the entry of governors in the debate.

The first step was taken with the approval of Resolution 72, which put an end to the so-called port war, by standardizing the taxation of imported products and removing from the states the possibility of playing with the rates in practices harmful to the national industry.

The need to stimulate productive growth in the coming years led to change, but our industrial sector, as well as society as a whole, still suffers from a confusing, regressive tax model that has the biggest mark of increasing the cost of Brazilian production. This needs to change for some time, but the resistance and obstacles created by the opposition in the Lula government prevented the approval of the reform.

The proposal sent by the Lula government to Congress addresses the main points of the reform of our tax system. The core, and therefore the center of controversy, is the way of charging the ICMS (Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services), a tax that today has more than 27 different legislations, opening space for the states to make a fiscal war.

In short, ICMS taxation is the biggest obstacle to reform. By ending the port war, the federal government paved the way to advance the ICMS reform. It also counts in favor of the fact that the Federal Supreme Court (STF) has already decided that it is necessary to revise the criteria for sharing the State Participation Fund (FPE) by December this year. In addition, the fiscal war was considered unconstitutional.

The basis for resuming debates on reform is the system adopted in Resolution 72, that is, standardizing ICMS charges for interstate transactions in a range of lower rates - today, this range ranges from 7% to 12%, depending on condition and the product sold. The next step would be to pass the collection to the destination (place of consumption of the product), instead of making the collection at the origin (place of production), as it is today.

This standardization would remove the instrument that states use for the fiscal war. The next step would be to consider the other taxes to unify the taxation in the future VAT (Value Added Tax).

There are other important points, such as taxing large fortunes, introducing a progressive character in the tax system, stimulating research in technology and innovation, in addition to constituting a regional development fund that compensates for losses in revenue with the reform.

Once again, the federal government is looking for ways to overcome a tax system that harms production, hinders national development, and burdens precisely those it needs to favor. And the states? Will they return to sit at the table and discuss the matter for the good of the country, or will they repeat the narrow-minded posture of yore?

 José Dirceu is a lawyer, former Minister of the Civil House and member of the National Directorate of PT

A weight that is difficult to reduce

Source: Diário do Comércio (São Paulo - SP) - 22/05/2012

President Dilma Rousseff has insisted that, if it is not politically possible to make the tax reform broad and unrestricted that makes the tax collection system in Brazil more friendly to taxpayers and to the economy as a whole, it is possible to achieve substantial advances in this area. It is one of the biggest obstacles to Brazilian competitiveness.

 In recent days, the president has insisted mainly on the weight of taxes on electricity, one of the Brazilian paradoxes - we have one of the energy matrixes capable of producing one of the cheapest electricity in the world and, at the same time, we have the third electricity bill. the most expensive light in the world, both for houses and for that consumed by the productive sector. The tax would eat 50% of the bill. It is no wonder that Alcoa, an aluminum producer and a major buyer of electricity, threatens to close two of its factories in Brazil and transfer the jobs it gives here and the taxes it pays to the Treasury abroad.

Official actions in this area are expected for the next few days. And in the wake of this new crusade by President Dilma, after the successful, at least public, campaign against high interest rates, the Minister of Communications, Paulo Bernardo - long since disappeared from the debates as practically all the ministers of the president - came to the scene to speak and propose the same in the telecommunications sector in general. Also in these accounts, the tax boat beats the 40% quota easily.

As the popular saying goes, however, speaking is easy, doing is that they are “another five hundred thousand kings”.

What the federal government can do in these two sectors, specifically, is very little in relation to the size of the tax charged. The biggest weight, as every business owner knows, is a state tax, the Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS). In fact, Minister Bernardo drew attention to this small great detail: in order to substantially reduce, as necessary, the tax burden on both energy and telecommunications, the contribution of the governors would be necessary.

And it is at this point that Neves died - or will die -. Today, more than 60% of what the state tax authorities collect comes from the ICMS charged on only five product categories: electricity, telecommunications, fuels, vehicles and beverages. There is no governor who wants - or even can -, in the current conditions, to give up this mine, since they are sectors of concentrated collection, easy and to collect and to inspect.

In fact, the governors, like the mayors who booed President Dilma in an uncivilized manner last week, have the opposite claim to the Brasilian plans that can reach their coffers: they want more resources. They want the federal government to share the tax pie better with states and municipalities. In the general sum, although the ICMS is the most important tax (and the most complicated to operate for companies) the largest part of the tax delicacy remains with Brasília - more than 60%.

Any talk to them about lowering the ICMS will actually begin if Dilma and Minister Mantega wave compensations. Many governors rely on the redivision of oil royalties to improve their cash. It turns out, when it came to making this breakdown, the federal government again took most of it for him. It came to nothing.

So, whatever is being discussed, the sliced ​​tax reform that President Dilma Rousseff intends to do to circumvent the obstacles that precede a deeper change in the way the Brazilian State finances itself will always be a patch, better or worse, a little depending on the stylist of the moment.

And so we are left in this impossible world: we have one of the biggest tax burdens in the world, state governments that complain about not having enough money to fulfill their obligations and public services to make them cry. And with no solutions in sight.

All because the debate is still wrong. The changes will only happen for real and in the right direction when you first look at the expense side. Initially, it is necessary for the reform of the State to prune uselessness and inefficiency. And how are we doing? Nowhere? For example: what exactly is the commission headed by entrepreneur Jorge Gerdau for this purpose? What results have you presented so far? The president's true courage will be shown when she takes on the structures of the bureaucracy and the party-political body.

Without this, no one has the illusion that taxes could fall in Brazil for real and permanently.

José Márcio Mendonça is a journalist and political analyst

Invoice ride 2.0

Source: Info Exame (São Paulo - SP) - 22/05/2012

São Paulo - The Brazilian tax asylum offers a vast space for the performance of tax evaders. Only with regard to the tax on the circulation of goods and services (ICMS), each state has its own legislation, with a total of 3.500 rules in constant change.

In recent years, this tangle has become even more complicated with the worsening fiscal war between states and municipalities to attract companies and increase their revenue. It is easy to understand the appetite for ICMS. The tax collection has increased 33% since 2009 and approached 300 billion reais last year.

The main weapon used in the war is the offer to reduce the tax. As a result, there are more than 40 different ICMS rates in the country, varying from 4% to 25%. And what could be good - paying less tax - has become a fertile ground for crime.

The most applied scam is the tour of the invoice. A few years ago, scammers worked on real logistical engineering to defraud: departing from a producing state, goods traveled to states with less tax. The tour served to heat up the bill, registering the product as if it had been produced in the state that charges less tax.

Then, the good returned to the starting point, usually São Paulo, to be consumed. With the creation of the electronic note, a click on the computer became sufficient to issue the document - there are 180 million per month in the country. And then the 2.0 tour was born: the invoice virtually goes to other states, but the product does not move.

To simulate that something was produced in a distant state, just send the note over there and then do the reverse. By magic, the product “changes” in origin. "The difference in ICMS induces the dishonest to simulate a fictitious destiny", says Clóvis Panzarini, former coordinator of the São Paulo Finance Department.

Although some states and some companies can make gains from fraud, the country's economy can only lose. “The fiscal war promotes distortion in investment decisions, raises costs and harms companies that comply with the law,” says economist Paulo Rabello de Castro.

To try to end the war, the federal government is discussing with states the unification of interstate rates - today they are 7% and 12%. But the negotiation should take time. In the meantime, the note tour thrives, as shown in the following three examples, in the ethanol, medicine and steel markets.

Ethanol

Since 2007, to prevent fraud, the government has determined that the country's 16 refineries should centralize the collection of taxes on gasoline and diesel. Ethanol, however, because it is produced in hundreds of plants, has been left out - and has become the preferred target of dishonest distributors.

Fraudsters create distributors in states such as Goiás, where the ICMS rate is lower than that of São Paulo, the main producing state. "The scheme is set up with a company that is legally constituted, but in the name of oranges," says Alísio Vaz, president of the fuel distributors union.

The company only serves to simulate the passage of ethanol and issue the electronic invoice, obtaining the benefit of the lower tax. But only the note travels to Goiás. The fuel goes directly from the producer to service stations that participate in the scheme and, thus, offer ethanol at a low price - taking customers away from competitors who work in the legal sector.

The fraud, however, does not end on the note tour. Over time, fraudsters evade all taxes. When they are fined, they leave the distributor and start again with the name of another orange. Seven companies are currently under investigation - the National Petroleum Agency does not disclose which ones.

Pharmaceutical products

medicines are one of the products most affected by the invoice tour. The existence of 82 pharmacies scattered across the country - 000% of them small - and the sector's tight margins make it easier for the picks to act, as gains in the tax can increase the profit of traders.

Drug fraud is old, but it has recently incorporated technology. Until three years ago, the cargo and the paper invoice were a hit: they traveled from states that are producers, such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, where the ICMS is heavier, even, for example, the Federal District, that takes a smaller toll.

Then, the cargo returned to its origin to be sold. Now, with a click on the computer, the electronic note is issued as if the cargo had completed the same path. The new scheme is called a merry-go-round: the bill makes a loop to reach the same place and the load is stopped. "The difference of a few percentage points encourages the wholesale banknote tour," says Ronaldo de Carvalho, owner of the Drogaria São Paulo chain.

Steel

Far from decreasing, the fiscal war between the states has evolved with new formats. What has gained more space recently is the offer of specific tax benefits for imported products. In ports like Itajaí, in Santa Catarina, and Vitória, in Espírito Santo, this started to be done to attract cargo from abroad and destined for other states.

Thus, a product that will be sold in São Paulo, instead of landing in Santos, uses a terminal in a state that charges lower ICMS. Companies that clear their imported products at these ports pay a small portion of ICMS to the state and receive a tax credit as if they had fully paid the tax.

The difference is charged to the destination state and turns into profit. In the steel distribution market, this new scenario of the fiscal war is leading to another trade-off: the international invoice tour. Dishonest distributors started to simulate that loads of Brazilian products came from countries like China or Italy.

But, in reality, only the invoice was issued electronically as if the steel had originated abroad. With the operation, the deceivers are able to sell steel at a price up to 8% cheaper than the market average, equivalent to 224 reais per ton.

"Depending on the tax credit obtained by the distributor in the port, the advantage in relation to the price of my product reaches 12%", says a businessman in the sector who asked for anonymity. The solution to end this type of coup is under discussion in the Senate: to define a single ICMS rate for imported goods.

"The port war sponsored by some states requires an urgent solution to end fraud such as the international tour," says Marco Polo Lopes, president of Instituto Aço Brasil.

Economists criticize stimulus measures announced by the government

Source: O Globo Online (Rio de Janeiro - RJ) - 21/05/2012

They say cuts have limited, short-term effects and advocate for deeper reforms

The economic incentive measures announced last Monday by the Ministry of Finance - reduction of IPI for automobiles and interest for some lines of financing from BNDES - may not generate the expected impact, according to economists. For them, the government may even generate some improvement in the short term, but this will not be lasting and may even increase the risk of an increase in default in the future.

Professor Armando Castelar, from UFRJ, believes that, given the weak numbers of economic activity, the government is right to propose stimulus to the economy. However, he believes that the repetition of the IPI cut model and reduction of interest on some BNDES lines may not have the expected effectiveness:

- I believe that we are close to the exhaustion of a model that had great success between 2005 and 2010, with the incentive to consumption based on increased financing. Families are very indebted. This model can generate future problems of default, which is already worrying even with employment and income and high. The government needed to ask itself why the economy is still skating, even with such low interest rates, and to review the model, looking for a way to encourage investment - said the professor.

He believes that more horizontal measures, such as reducing bureaucracy and taxes in a more linear way, could have more effects. Castelar even questions the BNDES 'interest reduction:

- This reduction has a greater impact on large companies. And entrepreneurs do not regret the lack of financing, but bureaucracy, tax and labor problems. The government needs to improve the business environment. The results may take a little longer, but it is something more lasting - he said.

Carlos Langoni, professor of economics at FGV and former president of BC, agrees that the measures may generate some short-term relief, but that this will not be enough. In his opinion, the government should take the time to resume an audacious reform agenda, focused mainly on tax reform.

- The government is using specific and selective incentives, which have a positive but limited effect. In addition, the total government effort has been to reduce interest rates. I don't think the problem is in demand, but in supply. The government needs to encourage investment, but Brazil currently punishes investment, savings and formal employment. The government could take advantage of the moment of the world economy, of a long stagnation of the developed economies and of a strong deceleration of the big emerging countries, like China, to vote on the tax reform, which would have great support from society - he said.

Professor Fábio Kanzuc, from USP, affirms that the positive impact of these repeated measures is less and less:

- The population is very indebted, measures like this are becoming increasingly inefficient. And, beyond the limit of the families' indebtedness, there is the limit of the cities, which are already full of cars - he said.

New rule in e-commerce can guarantee R $ 40 million to SC

Source: Diário Catarinense (Florianópolis - SC) - 21/05/2012

Proposal for the redistribution of the tax among the states still needs to pass the approval of the Senate plenary

The changes that should occur in the sharing of ICMS for products purchased over the internet or sold on television programs may generate R $ 40 million for Santa Catarina starting next year. Today, the entire tax is on the State where the distribution centers of the selling companies are located, which are concentrated in the Southeast. The proposal is that, as of 2013, resources are divided.

The Secretary of Finance of Santa Catarina, Nelson Serpa, says that by the new rules 40% of the ICMS on internet purchases will stay with the State of the distribution center and 60% in the place where the product buyer lives.

He also recalls that the amount collected by Santa Catarina must increase over the years because internet commerce is growing consistently (see box). Since 2007, it has tripled in volume and closed last year at R $ 18,7 billion, according to data from the consultancy e-bit. And of the 8,5 million new online consumers conquered last year, 61% belonged to class C. The forecast remains positive and between January and December this year, R $ 23,4 billion in products should be sold in the country.

But before the Santa Catarina government can count on the money, the project must be approved in the Federal Senate. The political environment is quite favorable, informs the advisory of the Ministry of Institutional Relations. The SC finance secretary says the proposal passed the Constitution and Justice Commission and now there will be a public hearing this month at the Economic Affairs Commission. He will be present and says that the climate is good because most states will benefit. Today, distribution centers are concentrated in São Paulo and there is less presence in Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais.

Another very important ally is the federal government itself. Serpa recalls that, in the tax reform, the team from the Ministry of Finance argues that the ICMS should remain with the states where the buyers are located.

According to Serpa, the state is among the main markets for products sold over the internet in Brazil. The shopping list follows the national list and consists of computer products, appliances and health and beauty items. Another favorable factor is internet penetration in Santa Catarina. A study carried out by Fundação Getúlio Vargas and Fundação Telefônica, released last week, shows that 41,66% of the computers in the cities of Santa Catarina are connected. The national average is 33%. Florianópolis also stands out: it is the Capital with the greatest digital inclusion, 62,1%.