January 3, 2022

13:01

Bruno Pacheco – from Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – President Jair Messias Bolsonaro (PL) reduced the tax benefit for soft drink manufacturers in the Manaus Free Trade Zone (MFTZ), in a last act in 2021. Under the new decision, published in the Federal Official Gazette (DOU) on Friday, 31st, the industries’ rate drops from 8% to 4%. The new table goes into effect on April 1st of this year.

According to Decree No. 10,923, of December 30, 2021, the Tax on Industrialized Products Table (TIPI) is approved and revokes 16 other decrees, among them, Decree No. 10,523/2020, which set at 8% the rate of the Tax on Industrialized Products (IPI) for the Concentrates Pole, considered one of the most profitable sectors of the Manaus Industrial Pole (PIM).

The measure causes the taxes paid by the soft drink industries to increase, because the tax credit used by the manufacturers decreases, due to the reduction of the rate. In other words, the lower the benefit, the lower the credit and the higher the tax.

Risks

The new decree goes against another decision that President Bolsonaro had taken in 2020, in which he ensured, permanently, the rate at 8%. The percentage, however, had been in effect since February 20 of that year, but was valid until November 30, 2020. For specialists, the rate reduction may cause the exit of large industries from the region and, consequently, unemployment.

In this sector are the Coca-Cola, Ambev and J. Cruz Indústria e Comêrcio Ltda. factories, better known as Magistral (owner of the Regente, Yara, Grapette and Gury brands). In social networks, the lawyer and pre-candidate to the Government of Amazonas for Psol, Marcelo Amil, classified the measure as a “stone in the head of the PIM”.

“And as the last act of 2021, Guedes and Bolsonaro send another lady stoned in the head of the Industrial Pole of Manaus (PIM)”, wrote the lawyer, in a publication on Twitter.