After overturning IOF, Alcolumbre says that the government's defeat “was made by many hands”

Senate President Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP) said on Wednesday night (25) that the overturning of the decree that increased the Tax on Financial Transactions (IOF) is a defeat for the government that “was built by many hands”. Congress approved the substitute for Legislative Decree Project 314/25 that overturned three Executive decrees on the subject.

The PDL does not need to be approved by the President of the Republic. Alcolumbre recalled that Congress helped the government even before the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), with the approval of the Transition PEC, in 2022.

“What this Parliament did in supporting the government’s agenda should not be recognized? Have they forgotten what was done before receiving the presidential sash? What we cannot accept are insults and aggressions for a legitimate action of Parliament. We have 500 PDLs being processed in the Chamber and more than 80 in the Senate. We voted on only one. Are we not respecting the government’s institutional role of issuing rules by decree? We are, we voted on only one,” said Alcolumbre.

The Senate president highlighted that the IOF decree “started badly” and said that Congress “only helped the government” throughout Lula’s third term. Earlier, the Chamber approved the legislative decree with 383 votes in favor of overturning the presidential text and 98 in favor of maintaining it. In the Senate, the PDL was approved symbolically.

“We know that this is indeed a defeat for the government, but it was built by many hands. Because the Chamber of Deputies gave a significant vote, the Senate would also give a significant vote. I think now is the time to talk more and build the necessary convergences for Brazil. We help the government more than we hinder it. I think we only help and, on some points like this, we disagree,” Alcolumbre emphasized.

Before the votes, the Minister of Institutional Relations, Gleisi Hoffmann, stated that there was “no legal basis for the PDL”. “The repeal of the decree will reduce revenue in 2025 by R$10 billion, putting at risk the achievement of the primary result target in 2025. For 2026, the repeal of the decree could make it difficult to achieve the primary result target by R$30 billion”, said the minister at the X.

Finance Minister Fernando Haddad also defended the increase in the IOF. “The IOF decree corrects an injustice: it combats tax evasion by the wealthiest to balance public accounts and guarantee the social rights of workers,” he also stated in a publication in X.