Senate President Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP) announced on Wednesday that Congress will vote next week on the provisional measure that ended Brazil's so called "blusinhas tax," the import duty on low value international purchases. The announcement followed a lunch at the Alvorada Palace with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Lower House Speaker Hugo Motta.
"This provisional measure will not expire. It will be voted on in committee next Tuesday. I make this commitment, as I did with Motta, to Brazil, which needs this measure in force, that next week, in this short window of concentrated effort, we will deliberate so it can be signed into law, for millions of Brazilians to have a better quality of life," Alcolumbre said, according to G1.
The provisional measure zeroed a 20 percent import tax on international purchases of up to $50, and it was published in May. Under Brazilian law, the text must be approved by Congress by September 8 or it loses validity, meaning the tax would return on September 9. Congress has not yet agreed on who will lead the joint committee responsible for reviewing the measure before it goes to a floor vote in both chambers, according to InfoMoney. Motta said the committee chair will be appointed by the Lower House and the rapporteur by the Senate. "The goal is to use next week's window of concentrated legislative effort to vote it on the Lower House floor and then in the Senate," he said.
Alcolumbre also said the Senate's Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) will review next week two proposed constitutional amendments: one on public security and another that would end the so called "6x1" work schedule, in which employees work six days and rest one. He did not guarantee both measures would reach the full Senate floor in the same period, which lawmakers are calling a "concentrated effort" of votes ahead of the first round of Brazil's presidential election on October 4. Allies of Lula are pressing for the labor schedule amendment to reach a floor vote the same day it clears committee, but a constitutional amendment normally requires two rounds of Senate votes with a five business day gap between them, unless there is political agreement to speed up the process.
Industry pushback and other priorities
Brazil's National Confederation of Industry (CNI) has opposed ending the import tax. In a statement cited by G1, the group's economy superintendent, Marcio Guerra, said zeroing the tax on purchases up to $50 "creates differentiated tax treatment for imports" and "harms the domestic market, violates fair competition and the constitutional principle of protecting the domestic market as national heritage." CNI estimates the change could put at risk 21.8 billion reais in domestic production and 109,000 jobs in 2026.
Alcolumbre said the Senate should also advance Redata, a tax regime for data centers, and a national policy on critical minerals, both stalled on the floor. He said the joint committee for Redata had not previously been installed, leaving senators without the political cover to vote on it earlier this year. A new government backed bill, already approved by the Lower House, will now move forward given the importance of the investment it could attract to Brazil, he said.
The next milestone is the installation of the joint committee overseeing the import tax measure, expected Tuesday, followed by floor votes in both chambers during next week's concentrated legislative push, the last voting window before the October 4 first round. The Senate's Constitution and Justice Committee is expected to take up both the labor schedule amendment and the public security amendment in the same period, though no date has been confirmed for either to reach the full floor.