BRASILIA (Reuters) – Lawmakers in Brazil’s lower house of Congress approved on Tuesday a bill that includes regulations needed to implement a constitutional tax reform, following a Senate vote to approve the bill.
The proposal will now head to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for his signature.
The bill sets rules needed to consolidate five existing taxes into a single consumption levy, also known as a value-added tax (VAT), with separate federal and regional rates.
It also provide details on a new tax on products considered harmful to human health or the environment, such as cigarettes and alcoholic beverages. Lawmakers in the lower house added sweetened beverages back to the list after the senators removed it.
Lawmaker Reginaldo Lopes, bill rapporteur in the lower house, said the changes approved by the house will set the overall consumption tax rate at 26.5%.
The eagerly anticipated tax reform was approved by lawmakers last year and is a central pillar of Lula’s plans to boost productivity and economic growth in Latin America’s largest economy. Previous governments have attempted and failed to implement a tax reform of their own.
Lula’s government has also sent to lawmakers a separate bill, which still requires Senate approval, regulating how the VAT would be managed at the state level.
(Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello, Bernardo Caram and Marcela Ayres in Brasilia; Writing by Andre Romani)
