End of the "blouse tax" threatens competitiveness, says Flávio Rocha
The revocation of the so-called "blouse tax" raises an alarm in the retail sector. The 20% charge on imports up to US$50 became the target of criticism after the government reset the federal tariff. For Flávio Rocha, president of Riachuelo, the measure threatens the competitiveness of the national industry. "The risk is that Brazil will become the first and only 'deprotectionist' country in the world", he stated during an interview on the last program of this season of Hot Market, presented by Rafael Furlanetti.
Rocha highlighted that international clothing trade has grown rapidly in recent years. According to him, before the pandemic, cross-border purchases represented just 0.5% of Brazilian textile retail, but today they already reach around 25% of the market. In the entrepreneur's opinion, the difference in tax burden creates an unequal dispute for Brazilian companies. "It's not fair for a Brazilian player that employs seamstresses, drivers and cashiers to pay 90% tax," he said. He stated that he does not advocate taxation for consumers, but rather tax equality for companies.
Expanding state and record tax burden
During the conversation, Flávio Rocha also spoke about the main challenges for industries. The businessman used an analogy to describe the current scenario: "A society is like a carriage. It has the weight of its state carriage and has its traction force. This society will be as competitive as the traction force in relation to the carriage." For him, the Brazilian State has been hypertrophying in a worrying way, with exponential growth in public spending in recent years.
The businessman also stated that this excess spending contributes to high interest rates and the increase in the tax burden in the country. According to him, effective taxation in Brazil would be higher than the 32% generally disclosed, since the weight of taxes falls on the formal portion of the economy. He compared the Brazilian scenario to that of developed countries and stated that there are no first world nations with a similar level of taxation.
Labor reform and lawsuits
The increase in the number of labor lawsuits in Brazil was also highlighted by the president of the board of Riachuelo during the interview: "Of the 4 million labor lawsuits registered in the last year in the world, 3 million were filed in Brazil", he stated. In Flávio Rocha's assessment, the scenario of judicial decisions weakened the advances promoted by the labor reform led by Rogério Marinho. "The civilizing achievement of labor reform was completely dehydrated and deformed", he lamented.
The last program of this season of Hot Market will air this Sunday (31) at 11:15 pm, on CNN Brasil. There will be a rerun on Monday (1st), at 7pm, on CNN Money.
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Source: CNN