Government will tax gasoline more, use Petrobras 'cushion'
The Lula administration is working on a solution to resume the collection of federal taxes on gasoline and ethanol with minimal impact on consumers, meeting a concern of the political wing of the government. At the same time, the decision is expected to bring R$28.8 billion, as expected by the economic team, maintaining one of the pillars of fiscal adjustment signaled by the Executive branch.According to Finance Minister Fernando Haddad, the formula will be defined on Tuesday and Petrobras can make a "contribution," since the prices charged in the domestic market are above international levels. He argued that the company’s participation will respect the company’s import parity price policy and will occur within its pricing policy. "There is a cushion [under the policy] that allows you to decrease or raise fuel prices, and it can be used. That can be a contribution [from Petrobras]," the minister told reporters on Monday night.The Ministry of Finance will not lose a single real, assured a government source. This information, published on Monday by Valor PRO, Valor’s real-time information service, and later confirmed by the ministry’s press office, caused market interest rates to fall. At the end of the session, the rate of the Interfinancial Deposit (DI) contract for January 2024 fell to 13.375% from 13.465% on Friday.The issue will return to the desk of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Tuesday, who will receive at 9:30 am at the Presidential Palace Chief of Staff Rui Costa, Mines and Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira, and Petrobras CEO Jean-Paul Prates.The government’s solution involves a new distribution of the tax burden along the fuel chain. The executive secretary of the finance ministry, Gabriel Galípolo, went to Rio de Janeiro on Monday afternoon to discuss the matter with Petrobras’s board of directors. However, this is a delicate discussion and there is resistance from some wings in the federal administration.The resumption of federal taxation is also likely to include a change in line with the environmental agenda defended by the Finance minister. Gasoline will pay more taxes than ethanol, as a strategy to discourage the use of fossil fuels. Figures circulating on Monday indicated that 75% of the tax on gasoline would be resumed, compared with 25% of those levied on ethanol.At the end of the morning, Mr. Haddad said he expected the final draft to be unveiled on Monday. He was expected to hold a press conference at the end of...
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