Tax reform may reduce impacts of illegal e-commerce, assesses expert
“I believe that the tax reform has to bring hope for greater competitiveness for the national scenario compared to the international one. If you only protect the domestic market and close the foreign market, it will also bring you losses. It is not just shielding. It is bringing more tax justice into the chain, mainly industrial and services”, he argues.
Coordinator of the Textile Industry Parliamentary Front, federal deputy Eduardo Bismarck (PDT-CE) managed to approve a request for a public hearing to discuss the incidence of taxes and the digitalization of taxes on products purchased over the internet within the scope of a working group in the Chamber .
The parliamentarian believes that the dispute involving national and international electronic retail should be present in the discussions of the tax reform. “We have to look at the purchases on-line. I think it goes through this path of tax reform. What’s the big deal there? It’s up to you to try to put these operations on the table and make them comply with the rule, as well as operations in other countries.”
Leonardo Roesler says that irregular electronic commerce and the lack of robustness in inspections have an impact on government revenue and also on domestic companies.
“It reduces government revenues that could be used in investments in infrastructure, health, education. It fails to protect the national industry because of this imbalance. It fails to make the domestic market have more competitive prices, because it is coming practically zero taxes. It generates injustice, because some consumers pay taxes and others don’t; it distorts the market and negatively affects foreign trade. It discourages foreign investment and damages the country’s image”, he lists.
Dispute
International e-commerce platforms such as Asian ones AliExpress, Shopand and Shein, gained ground among Brazilian consumers in recent years, mainly due to lower prices. But, for representatives of the national productive sector, part of this dispute did not take place “within the four lines”.
The legislation guarantees that Brazilian consumers are exempt from import tax – whose percentage is 60% – when making international purchases of up to US$ 50 (approximately R$ 250), provided that the sender is also an individual. This means that all orders whose origin or destination is a legal entity (company) are subject to taxation.
According to Roesler, part of the companies that sell on these platforms ecommerce international companies impersonate individuals to circumvent inspection and, thus, deliver products without charging import tax and, therefore, cheaper to consumers.
“The government argues that some marketplaces simulate the purchase of a company for the consumer as an operation between two people, so that these companies do not pass the taxes on.”
“It is also alleged that some e-commerce companies do not pay taxes because sellers are providing false information for tax evasion purposes, declaring items for much lower values or even cases where a camera is sold, but a toy is declared, for example,” he adds.
Reaction
As a measure to resolve the impasse and also increase revenue, President Lula’s government even announced the end of the import tax exemption for purchases by individuals, but withdrew in the face of negative repercussions. Parliamentarians linked to the productive sector also reinforced the offensive to put an end to what they call “digital smuggling”.
For Federal Deputy Eduardo Bismarck, it is necessary to find a balance that guarantees people to import cheaper products, as long as they are legal, without thereby allowing national retailers to be harmed by unfair competition.
“What is the purpose of this tax? Is it just to enrich the treasury or take and allocate this to the production of new jobs? Or do we also need to be relieving those who are producing here in Brazil to be able to increase the capacity to reindustrialize the country? It is not an easy solution , but we need to find a middle ground solution so that people continue buying cheaply, but that country town that has a textile factory doesn’t see parents losing their jobs because they are buying there in China”, he says.
By Brasil 61
