The role of the judiciary and civil society before the social and economic implications about the discussion of the proposed tax reform in the areas of health and education were the themes of a webinar promoted by the Permanent College of Directors of State Schools of the Judges (COPEDEM). Analyzing the current conjuncture of political insecurity, as well as the sanitation resulting from the pandemic in the country, the event was coordinated by CEO Lourdes Gonçalves from Memory - Legal Memory.
Divided into two panels, the first one being "The Economic Implications of Tax Reform for Education and Health", the event was opened by Justice Marco Villas Boas, Esmat's General Director. Moderated by the magistrate Marcelo Piragibe, Judge at the Court of Justice of Minas Gerais (TJMG) and adviser to Copedem. The first lecture, "The legal implications of tax reform for education and health", was presented by Professor Heleno Torres, from the University of São Paulo. "There is a lot of talk about tax reform, but there is no tax reform, there are tax reforms. A tax reform is presented as a project, but not a single project. There is no universal standard for a tax model. The process of tax reform is a permanent process, not specific, not particular," he said.
The second lecture was given by Minister João Otávio de Noronha, of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), who spoke about the vision of the judiciary regarding the impacts of tax reform. "I want to see in the expectation of the judiciary, because I believe that we have expectations of a reform that will occur in order to simplify the system, in order to reduce the tax litigiousness of this country, which is very high," he said. Next, Mr. Everardo Maciel, vice-president of ABDF and former secretary of the Federal Revenue Service, spoke.
The second panel, entitled "The Social Implications of Tax Reform for Education and Health", had as moderator the Judge Maria Erotides Kneip, from the Court of Justice of Mato Grosso (TJMT). For Mr. Fabio Cunha, legal and compliance director at DASA, the discussions about the Reform should happen only after the total control of the Covid-19 pandemic. "The pandemic is not over yet. We should not be talking about impacts of tax reform on the health and education sector during a pandemic. This is another violence that is being done to the Brazilian population, the population that depends on education and health. We should be dealing with other agendas at this moment, we should be dealing with the agendas of opening schools and universities, the agendas of how to train more in the public health system and in the supplementary health system", he stressed.
Next, Ms. Elizabeth Guedes, president of the National Association of Private Universities (ANUP) spoke about the issues involving the access to education for young Brazilians, in view of the financial insecurity. The closing speech was given by Judge Caetano Levi, from the Court of Justice of Minas Gerais (TJMG) and president-director of the National School of the Judges (ENM).
