Agricultural taxation can generate losses, estimates tax lawyer

The governor of Goiás Ronaldo Caiado surprised the agricultural sector by announcing the creation of a new tax, which could reach up to 1,65% on agricultural production. For the lawyer specializing in agricultural taxation, Leonardo Amaral, if approved, the taxation will be a major setback not only for the agricultural sector, but for the end consumer.

"It is understandable that the Government will rethink the forms of collection, but burdening the main sector of the State is not only undermining the largest economic support base in Goiás, but also making the basic food basket more expensive. The final bill will not be restricted to large producers , who may suffer losses of between 5% and 10% of their current profit, but to the entire population who will deeply feel the rise in prices on basic basket items”, highlights Leonardo.

Another point that the tax expert draws our attention to is that the Bill is unconstitutional. "Governor Ronaldo Caiado's project is already starting in an erroneous way. We have enough legal elements for our deputies not to approve this Bill, one of them is the Federal Constitution itself, which establishes and directs its activity through public policies to promote and encourage the agribusiness sector and not waste it. What many call tax benefits for agriculture is nothing more than a public policy against hunger, poverty and in favor of the national economy”, explains the expert.

Taxation can be based on the MS model

The matter presented by Caiado uses as a model the example of what happens in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, which has had taxation for the agricultural sector for 22 years, which in theory is optional, but in practice, as the lawyer explains tax expert, "since its introduction, day after day, new questions arise. There is visible legal pressure for adherence to the tax by the State, creating a mandatory nature for something that should not have this purpose. A coercion", he points out.

The project will be voted on by the Legislative Assembly, which until the end of December 2022 is made up of 13 state deputies who call themselves rural producers. "If the deputies of the Legislative Assembly, who were mostly elected by the agribusiness sector, bow to a shallow solution like this, we will be facing the end of the executive's cooperation with agribusiness and, mainly, with the welfare state of Goiás. It is worth emphasizing that many of these deputies used in their campaigns to defend the sector as a state project for economic and social development. Now it is time to see this defense in practice”, he concludes.

The processing of the proposal can be followed here.