Beer must have high tax

The IRS study raise the incidence of taxes on cold drinks, such as soft drinks and beer, from April 1. The measure, which should have been taken in October 2013, was postponed until next month by the Finance Minister, Guido Mantega, by industry representatives claim. At the time, the businessmen claimed that the increased tax burden would represent losses for companies and for the generation of jobs.
Now it will be more difficult for a further postponement, according to sources in the economic area, given the framework of fiscal constraint. An increase in revenue arising from the increase in taxation would be very welcome for the Government. In February, according to preliminary data, the recipe of taxes and contributions fell short of official expectations, jeopardizing the expected result for the primary surplus of the month.
An additional fundraiser with the elevation of taxes on this sector does not exist in the budget programming Decree, issued in February, which established a budget cuts of $ 44 billion.
According to internal revenue service technicians, the elevation of taxes in the sector of cold drinks will be made with the revision of the price list which serves as the basis for calculating the tax on industrialized products (IPI) and PIS/Cofins.
In January, the collection of PIS/Cofins on drinks totaled r $ 202 million, below, therefore, of R $ 267 million from the same month in 2013. These numbers are adjusted by IPCA and represented a real fall of 24.3% over the period. In the case of the IPI Drinks, the recoil was r $ 355 million in January, which represented a fall in real terms of 23.52%.
In addition to increased taxation of the drinks industry, the Ministry of Finance has, too, with two proposals which are under discussion between the economic area and Technical Staff. One deals with the assimilation of the taxation of imports to the national product, to offset the decision of the Supreme Court (STF), which ruled unconstitutional the inclusion of ICMS, PIS and Cofins-the basis for the calculation of these contributions on imports. The other refers to the extension of taxation which today is made in factories of cosmetics also for distributors. These two measures, if approved, should raise the Union's revenue by about $ 2.5 billion this year.
In January and February revenues from taxes and contributions (except Providence) frustrated the expectations of the Government. Just last month, they were $ 4 billion below the forecast.