The "Christmas package” and the chimera of legal certainty

Text commented by Bruno de Queiroz - Executive Director of Galeazzi & Associados

We start a new year with the same old realization: there is no legal certainty in Brazil. In this article published in Brazil Journal by lawyer Luiz Augusto Bichara, we have yet another example of the disorder that prevails in our country, regardless of who is in power.

The practice of taking advantage of the end of the year to issue provisional measures, which are almost always harmful to the economy and taxpayers, is a recurring and commonplace occurrence. Well, it has been done again.

All the measures in the “end-of-year package” have a direct effect on the financial planning of companies, either by affecting payroll tax expenses, frustrating the recovery of tax credits for which they have fought for decades, or by canceling tax exemptions established during the pandemic.

The way the legislature will deal with such provisional measures is still unknown, but the reality is that until then, business managers are in a very difficult legal limbo, not knowing what they should follow. And in the future, if the provisional measure ceases to be valid, there will be a new legal limbo.

This is yet another example of the reasons why we are an eternally underdeveloped country and remain in this condition for many, many years. Perhaps it is worth following the author’s suggestion: “accepting that there is no legal certainty in Brazil hurts less and we will all be happy.”

I make this sad reflection and, if you have any contributions on the subject, I would like to hear from you!