Brasília, July 24, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The governors will press the federal government to include in the tax reform proposal provisions for the sharing of revenues collected through the Cide (fuel tax) and the CPMF (financial movement or "check" tax). Another of the governors' demands is that the compensation fund for exporter states be made part of the Constitution; this is already part of their agreement with the Planalto Palace, but the final text is still being prepared.
These decisions were announced on Tuesday (22) by the commission that represents the 27 governors, during a meeting at a hotel in Brasília. The meeting of the five members of the commission was to prepare for their encounter later in the day, at the Planalto Palace, with the Chief of the Presidential Advisory Staff, Minister José Dirceu, and the Minister of Finance, Antônio Palocci.
"If our demands are not met, we will have to seek legislative support and hold this discussion, this debate, in the National Congress, which is the adequate forum," affirmed Governor Marconi Perillo (PSDB-GO).
Even though they denied any connection with the agreements established for Social Security reform, in which, against the governors' wishes, the government's text included parity - equal readjustments for active and retired civil servants, the commission made it clear that this time the governors do not intend to yield in their demands.
"The process of Social Security reform was inadequate, and I hope that now, in the tax reform, the federal government will recompose its harmonious relations with the states," declared Governor Aécio Neves (PSDB-MG).
Governor Germano Rigotto (PMDB-RS) explained that the commission's proposal includes the transfer of 25% of Cide revenues and 0.08% of the CPMF to the states, as well as 0.02% of the CPMF to the municipalities. According to Rigotto, the untying of state revenues, another of the governors' proposals, would not be part of the agreement with the federal government. "This is a matter that depends more upon the National Congress than upon an agreement with the Federal Executive," he affirmed.
Governors Germano Rigotto (PMDB-RS), Aécio Neves (PSDB-MG), Marconi Perillo (PSDB-GO), Wilma Faria (PSB-RN), and Eduardo Braga (PPS-AM) were scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon (22) with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to try to close an agreement with respect to the tax reform proposal. (DAS)
