Brasília, July 1, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - In the opinion of the Minister of Finance, Antônio Palocci, the decision the government made yesterday (30), at a meeting between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the 27 governors, to create a compensation fund for the states that lose revenue in consequence of tax relief on exports is a counterpart for the states that profit from imports but lose resources the moment they sell products abroad. "Since we constitutionalized the right to exempt exports from tax payments, we think it is also fair to acquiesce to the governors' request to constitutionalize the restitution of resources, principally for the difference between what states lose from exports and gain from imports," he pointed out.

Palocci said that the government decided to yield, including the creation of a compensation fund in the tax reform proposal, because it considered the governors' request fair. "It may be healthy from the perspective of assuring that one of the most important things we are doing in this reform is saying once and for all, definitively, that exportation in Brazil, the Brazilian product that goes abroad, will no longer bear a tax burden, beginning with this tax reform," he emphasized.

The Minister reiterated that the fund will be composed of import and export taxes, as well as other resources, and he said that it will be regulamented by a complementary law. The proposal will be sent to leaders of the government in the Chamber and to the reporter of the bill in the Special Commission on Tax Reform, Deputy Virgílio Guimarães (PT-MG). (DAS)