12/18/2008 15h36
Government zeroes Excise Tax on trucks
Folha de S. Paulo - 12/18/2008
After granting the car makers tax relaxation, the government will reduce to zero the rate of the IPI (Excise Tax) tax on trucks. Currently, the tax rate in the sector is 5%. The relaxation meets the request made by makers and cargo carriers. After the tax reduction for cars, they argued the trucks are their work tools and should also receive the benefit. The measure was even included in the tax relaxation package announced last week, which comprised the alterations on the Income Tax table with the inclusion of two new tax rates and the reduction of the IOF (Financial Operation Tax) on credit operations. Little before the announcement of the measures, the benefit for trucks was removed for technical changes to the project. Data of the Anfavea (National Association of Automobile Manufacturers), which also represents the trucks manufacturers, showed the sales fell 22% in November compared to the previous month. In October, when credit became short, sales remained stable in comparison to September. The red alert started ringing last month, when the licensing amounted to 9,292. Anfavea affirms it will make an announcement when the measure is published in the Federal "Official Gazette", what may happen in the next days. The tax reduction was an old request of the sector, since buses and tractors already had an IPI tax rate of zero. Since they are considered capital goods, trucks used to pay less IPI than cars. Last week, the IPI on popular cars, those of up one thousand cc of engine capacity, was reduced from 7% to zero. For the vehicles between 1,000 and 2,000 cc of engine capacity, the reduction was from 13% to 6.5% for gasoline-powered cars and from 11% to 5.5% for the bifuel- and alcohol-powered cars.
