Import tax reduction can bring benefits in the long run

According to experts, the reduction of import tax rates for some capital goods can bring benefits to the Brazilian industry in the medium and long term, to the extent that promote the modernization of the industrial park.
For them, the reduction of taxes for this thread should not bring great losses to the federal revenue this year, since the import rate has a small stake in the tax structure.
Last Thursday, the Board of foreign trade (Camex) has published a list with 177 ex-tarifários for capital goods (machinery and equipment) that had their import tax (II) reduced a level of 14% to 2%, effective until December 31, 2016. Of these, 158 refer to new orders and 19 are related to renovations.
The Camex also released a list of ex-tarifários for computer and telecommunications goods, which had their import tax rate decreased from a range between 16% and 10% to 2% until December 31, 2015. The ex-tarifários are government instruments that aim to stimulate investments by means of temporary suspension of import taxes.
Professor of Economics, Accounting Research Institute Foundation (Fipecafi), Silvio Passion, consider these measures, mainly positive in a time of retraction of the Brazilian economy. "However, incentive policies, such as lowering import taxes, should not have date to occur. It would be important to also implement them in times when the economy is stabilized. Not only for companies to maintain national competitiveness in relation to imported goods, but also so that they can compete on equal terms or with differential in the external market, "says Silvio Passion.
According to the Ministry of development (MDIC), changes in import tax rates should encourage global investments of $ 1,902 billion injections in imports of equipment valued at $ 186 million.
In relation to global investment, the main sectors covered are construction (46.38%) and automotive (31.35%) and energy (5.40%), other (3.26 percent), ceramics (2.60 percent), capital goods (2.40 percent), auto parts (1.68 percent), steel (1.43%) and wood furniture (1.11%)
Long term
The professor of Economics at the University of Brasilia (UNB), José Matias-Pereira, believes that measures to encourage the import of capital goods can bring benefits in the long run.
"The economy doesn't feel right away these incentives, since we're talking about policies that aim to modernize industrial parks. It's something for the medium and long term, "says the professor of UNB.
"However, these measures by themselves do not change the reality of the domestic industry. The great thing about Brazil is that for a long time we don't have a development project of the country. We have an enormous difficulty to plan and what we have seen in recent years, were selective industrial policies, such as the promotion of white line and the automotive industry. That's a problem, because it changes the structure of some industrial segments and causes imbalance in the economy, "adds the expert.
Fundraiser
From the side of tax collection, the reduction of import taxes should not entail large losses. That's because the participation of those on tax structure not even the 5%, calculates professor of Fipecafi.
In 2014, for example, revenue from the import tax and the tax on industrialized products (IPI) reached r $ 53 billion, about 4.5% of the total revenue of R $ 1,177 trillion.
"The impact of import tax should not be relevant to the public accounts this year, not least because companies will not undertake major investments," says Silvio Passion. "In addition, the tax incentive to import machinery and equipment will not compensate for entrepreneurs, all tax rises that occurred at the beginning of the year," he recalls.
The imported products with reduced rates must come mainly from Germany (30.63%), and United States (26.32%) Italy (12.92%) and Japan (9.45 percent), Austria (4.53 percent), the Netherlands (3.22 percent), Taiwan (2.85 percent), South Korea (2.84%) and Spain (1.65 percent).
Among the projects to benefit from the recent Government measures are the construction of a new plant for the production of ammonia and CO2, in Minas Gerais; the increase in production capacity of engines, also in Minas Gerais; the construction of corn processing plant for the production of ethanol, in Goiás.