Senate approves Perse PL in symbolic vote and text goes to presidential sanction

O Senate approved this Tuesday (30), in a symbolic vote, the bill that reformulates the Persian (Emergency Events Sector Resumption Program). The text now goes to the president for sanction Squid. After an appeal from the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddadthe senator Daniella Ribeiro (PSD-PB), rapporteur in the Senate, decided to maintain the same text approved in the Chamber of Deputies.

The first version of Daniella’s report contained two main changes: one that corrected the total benefit value of Perse, of R$15 billion over three years, for inflation in that period. The second version prevented companies with favorable court injunctions from accessing the benefits of the program. The first change was the main focus of the government’s articulation.

If there were a correction for inflation, the total fiscal impact of Perse would be above the R$ 15 billion agreed by the Ministry of Finance with the Chamber of Deputies. The senator and deputy Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB), her brother, met this Tuesday (30), with Haddad and the executive secretary of Finance, Dario Durigan. “There was an appeal from Minister Haddad regarding the fiscal impact, because this would have a greater impact, the correction for inflation,” said Daniella.

The approved text provides that 30 activities will have access to the program. The Treasury initially wanted to reduce the list from 44 to 7, but was defeated. Perse was created in 2021, during the covid-19 pandemic, to help event companies experiencing financial difficulties, due to the interruption of activities during the quarantine.

The government tried to end the benefits, claiming that companies had already recovered from the downturn, but faced resistance from Congress, which decided to gradually end the incentives. During the negotiations, however, under pressure from the Treasury, the Chamber agreed to limit Perse’s costs at R$15 billion until 2026.

The government’s difficulty in ending Perse occurs at a time when Haddad’s options for increasing revenue are more limited and, with this, trying to eliminate the deficit in public accounts this year. After having managed to approve, last year, measures such as the taxation of the funds of the super-rich and in tax havens, the head of the economic team has encountered more resistance in moving forward with the fundraising agenda.

*With information from Estadão Conteúdo