BRASILIA, Aug 31 (Reuters) -
Brazil's government will unveil its 2024 budget bill to Congress later on Thursday, projecting a zero primary deficit for the central government, said Planning Minister Simone Tebet at a news conference.
Finance Minister Fernando Haddad, addressing the same gathering, expressed confidence in the government's fiscal pursuits, citing the recently dispatched revenue-boosting initiatives to Congress.
He highlighted a proposed bill aimed at formalizing a court ruling dictating that corporate tax discounts granted by states can no longer be used to reduce companies' taxable income for federal revenue purposes.
Earlier on Thursday, the government sent to Congress a bill within the package to increase revenues, by prohibiting the shareholder payment instrument "interest on equity" (JCP) from being deducted from companies' corporate tax obligations, starting on January 2024.
In a statement accompanying the proposal submitted to lawmakers, Haddad said the JCP payout "is used by few companies, many of them large and well positioned in the Brazilian market.
"It is, therefore, a tax benefit granted without effectiveness, which reduces the taxation levied on these few taxpayers and which generates a significant waiver of tax revenues."
(Reporting by Marcela Ayres Editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler)
