Source: ALTA
The Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Board of Representatives of International Airlines in Brazil (JURCAIB), the Brazilian General Aviation Association (ABAG), the Brazilian Association of Air Companies (ABEAR), the Brazilian Association of Auxiliary Air Transport Services (ABESATA), the National Union of Air Companies (SNEA), the National Union of Air Taxi Companies (SNETA) and the National Union of Agricultural Aviation Companies ( SINDAG) launched this Monday (08/09) a manifesto to express great concern with the Bill 2337/21, which increases the tax burden on civil aviation and may generate an additional cost of approximately 5 billion reais per year for the sector, considering general aviation and other members of the air transport chain.
Bill 2337/21 stands for the reestablishment of the PIS / COFINS charge on imports and sales in the domestic market of aircraft, spare parts and maintenance services, as well as the Import Tax and IPI on spare parts and pieces and a series of elements necessary for aircraft maintenance.
Air transport in Brazil has historically been exempt from taxes on these items, since it is not an international market practice and aviation is governed by global parameters. The increase in the tax burden negatively impacts the competitiveness of Brazilian companies and threatens the sector’s ability to recover as of 2022.
“Civil aviation is characterized by transferring its efficiencies to the user. Therefore, the additional costs, and especially the costs that do not follow global parameters, go against this effort of encouraging aviation so that more people can make use of the safest and most efficient means of transport. As representatives of the industry, we express our concern and make ourselves available to support the authorities to implementing effective measures”, comments José Ricardo Botelho, Executive Director & CEO of ALTA.
The entities that sign the manifesto emphasize their support for the Tax Reform, but they understand that it is necessary to guarantee a broad discussion process with order, predictability and transparency so that everyone can contribute. In this sense, they list contributions to the construction of this process in the manifesto (see full manifesto in Portuguese here).