Brazil ties potential IOF tax rollback to approval of new measures to be unveiled next week
Brazil ties potential IOF tax rollback to approval of new measures to be unveiled next week
Brazil's government will unveil a new set of fiscal measures next week aimed at balancing public accounts, with their approval seen as crucial to revisiting a controversial IOF tax hike, said Finance Minister Fernando Haddad on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters after a lunch with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the heads of the lower house and Senate, and several cabinet ministers, Haddad said the government is holding off on disclosing the details to first align with congressional leaders, with a meeting expected on Sunday.
Earlier, the minister had indicated that the measures could be unveiled after the meeting.
"The idea is to submit the measures starting next week," he said. "We are being very careful because we depend on the votes of Congress."
Negotiations follow intense backlash over a government decree that raised the financial transactions tax (IOF) on a range of credit, foreign exchange and private pension operations to increase public revenue, prompting lawmakers to mobilize to overturn it.
Haddad, who earlier in the day said the episode had yielded the "best possible outcome" by bringing together the executive and legislative branches to pursue more structural solutions for fiscal balance, emphasized after the lunch he needed the approval of at least part of the new package to reassess the IOF hike.
"The agreement is to present the measures and, if their legitimacy is recognized... I will have room to calibrate (the IOF)," he said.
Haddad had previously indicated that the package was superior to the one presented at the end of last year, when the government projected 70 billion reais ($12.39 billion) in spending restraints through 2026.
The minister also said the changes would likely involve submitting a constitutional amendment proposal, along with a bill and an executive order to Congress.
On Monday, he emphasized that any changes to the IOF tax would be tied to broader corrections of what he described as distortions in financial taxation.
Lula's government has said it aims to rebalance the federal budget by eliminating tax distortions and what it sees as unjustified tax benefits, rather than cutting spending, which has risen since he took office.
However, several measures to curb tax incentives have been significantly watered down or ignored by Congress. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
AsiaOne
42 minutes ago
- AsiaOne
North Korea internet hit by a major outage, Asia News
SEOUL - North Korea's internet is experiencing a major outage on Saturday (June 7), said a UK-based researcher, adding that the cause may be may be internal rather than a cyberattack. North Korea's main news web sites and its Foreign Ministry internet site were inaccessible on Saturday morning, according to checks by Reuters. "A major outage is currently occurring on North Korea's internet - affecting all routes whether they come in via China or Russia," said Junade Ali, a UK-based researcher who monitors the North Korean internet. North Korea's entire internet infrastructure is not showing up on systems that can monitor internet activities, he said. "Hard to say if this is intentional or accidental - but seems like this is internal rather than an attack," he said. Officials at South Korea's Police cyber terror response centre which monitors North Korea's cyber activities could not be reached for comment. [[nid:718737]]
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
North Korea internet hit by a major outage, analyst says
SEOUL - North Korea's internet is experiencing a major outage on Saturday, said a UK-based researcher, adding that the cause may be may be internal rather than a cyberattack. North Korea's main news web sites and its Foreign Ministry internet site were inaccessible on Saturday morning, according to checks by Reuters. "A major outage is currently occurring on North Korea's internet - affecting all routes whether they come in via China or Russia," said Junade Ali, a U.K.-based researcher who monitors the North Korean internet. North Korea's entire internet infrastructure is not showing up on systems that can monitor internet activities, he said. "Hard to say if this is intentional or accidental - but seems like this is internal rather than an attack," he said. Officials at South Korea's Police cyber terror response centre which monitors North Korea's cyber activities could not be reached for comment. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
Trump says decision on Fed chair will be out soon
[WASHINGTON] President Donald Trump said on Friday that a decision on the next Federal Reserve chair will be coming out soon, adding that a good Fed chair would lower interest rates. 'It's coming out very soon,' Trump told reporters on Air Force One. When asked specifically about former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, Trump said, 'he's very highly thought of.' Warsh is considered a frontrunner to be Trump's pick to be the next Fed chair. Earlier on Friday, Trump said the Federal Reserve should cut interest rates by a full percentage point and he reiterated his view that Chair Jerome Powell has been too slow to lower borrowing costs. The president has repeatedly berated Powell for not cutting rates as he desires. The two men met face-to-face for the first time last week, with Trump telling Powell he was making a 'mistake' by not lowering rates. REUTERS
