Brazilian farmers are exempt from paying R$ 40 billion in taxes

The Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS) will not be charged to farmers by the Brazilian state governments. The measure will help contain the rise in food prices, but it will also cost about R$40 billion reais to the public safes.

The problem is that many state governments are broken. The worst cases are  Rio de Janeiro, the Rio Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais, Roraima, Rio Grande do Norte, and Mato Grosso, which have already declared a state of public calamity in the financial sphere.

Therefore, on the one hand, the measure that helps farmers and secure food prices in the short term will make even worse the financial situation of states facing a calamity situation in the public accounts in the long run.