* By Rodolfo Fücher
Bug is a term well known in the world of technology and refers to a failure in the execution of a program. In this analysis, I consider it appropriate to reflect on bugs in a broader context: that of the digital transformation of Brazil, which, in order to move forward, needs to avoid shortfalls that generate major impacts on the costs and progress of projects, on Brazilian competitiveness, on the generation of opportunities, on digital inclusion and on reducing inequality .
We know that the exponential development we seek for the country involves the intensive use of new technologies, such as the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Advanced Manufacturing, Big Data and the most varied types of solutions, applications and platforms. The projected positive changes are important for the entire Brazilian society. Increasing the costs of accessing these technologies is detrimental to Brazil's future.
On the other hand, from the point of view of socio-political and economic conjuncture, the sector of information and communication technology (ICT) lives under constant pressure from legal uncertainty, especially in the tax area, which represents a bug resistant to hindering the smooth progress of planning and investments by technology companies, which form a cross-cutting sector to all economic sectors and deal with uncertainties and the Brazilian Cost.
In this month of November, the ICT sector registers two important decisions in the tax area, which can bring more legal certainty. The first is the judgment of two ADIs 1945-MT and 5659-MG in the Supreme Federal Court, in which 7 ministers have already declared favorable to the incidence of ISS in the licensing operations for the use of software, one of the main components of digital transformation.
ABES joined with other sectoral entities to present irrefutable arguments to the Court, in order to demonstrate that the Brazilian legislation and the jurisprudence define software as a service, in which the ISS is levied. Fortunately, this assessment prevailed in the STF, removing the insecurity that surrounded the technology sector.
The understanding that prevailed in the STF is in tune with the contemporary world because, as the Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman has very well defined, we live in “liquid time”, marked by fluidity, dynamism and impermanence. And the development of the software symbolizes the evolution of this liquid modernity, as it is a segment that is no longer restricted to the concept of “off-the-shelf software”. Today's business models are different and everything changes very quickly. Particularly, I already see this contemporaneity as a “gaseous world”, even more fluid and leading us to review concepts, business models much more quickly, in which technology and innovation are the central points of all this.
The second decision involving our sector, along with 16 other sectors, is to extend the payroll tax exemption until December 2021, a result obtained from an agreement between party leaders in the Senate, the Chamber and the Executive Branch, which overthrew a bespoke presidential veto, and a lot of mobilization by professional entities and unions.
We demonstrated how the exemption guaranteed more than 6 million jobs and reduced the risk of an increase in the prices of products and services. We warn that any price increase in solutions and services will affect companies, consumers and the government from north to south of Brazil. I remind you, however, that this exemption decision has a defined term and we still do not have a perspective on what will happen in 2022 on the horizon. In addition, we have to point out that Brazil has several proposals for tax reform under way in the National Congress, which may increase the tax burden for the ICT sector.
The legal insecurity bug continues to lurk in the ICT sector, Brazil's digital transformation and the well-being of our population. I am not going to elaborate on the theme, but it is important to mention that, in the middle of the pandemic, Bill No. 2,358 / 2020 (PL) emerged, which proposes the creation of Contribution of Intervention in the Economic Domain on the gross revenue of digital services provided by the large technology companies (CIDE-Digital), another taxation that would increase the complexity of taxes to which the technology companies are already subject.
The evaluation of the country's digital transformation carried out by the OECD, entitled A Caminho da Era Digital no Brasil, highlighted the advances and indicated that the "Brazil could rethink its current policies to support companies, especially those related to tax expenses, and not focus so much on specific sectors, but create policies concerned with promoting a wide diffusion of digital technologies in all sectors". This means recognizing the cross-cutting nature of the ICT sector and supporting digital transformation. Was this the way to go? We need to take this suggestion seriously.
It is necessary to recognize the importance of legal certainty in the taxation levied on information technology services and to avoid the creation of new taxes as an indispensable factor to leverage technological innovation and digital transformation, highlighted by the OECD as a way for Brazil to grow. The National IoT Plan, the Brazilian Digital Transformation Strategy and the National Innovation Plan, the Charter for Smart Cities, just to name a few initiatives, are major Brazilian plans and initiatives that depend on ICT.
We work to reduce the risk of increasing the cost of access to technologies by public and private organizations, the relevance of which was extremely evident during the pandemic, as they allowed the survival of several economic segments, with industry, food and commerce, in addition to enabling the home office and distance education. Even so, practically 25% of students were left without class throughout the year 2020, further increasing the Brazilian social gap. In addition, the OECD recently pointed out that practically ¼ of the Brazilian population has never accessed the internet.
For this reason, we celebrate the two decisions recorded this month with the exemption from payroll and the signaling of the judgment in the STF in favor of ISS and we remain mobilized to prevent the emergence of new ones. bugs generated by legal uncertainty, while we seek to eliminate existing ones. A nation will not be competitive if its people do not have quality access to knowledge, education, and technological innovations.
* Rodolfo Fücher is president of ABES (Brazilian Association of Software Companies)
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