Brazil has joined other major commodity producers in South America, such as Chile and Peru, in a debate about whether to increase mining royalties because of soaring prices - and it can be no surprise that the industry is fiercely against such a move.
Amid discussions of personal and corporate tax reform in Brazil's lower house of Congress, there was a possibility of higher taxes being imposed on the mining industry, the bill's sponsor, federal deputy Celso Sabino, said on Tuesday August 3.
Sabino wants to increase the current 4% Financial Compensation for Exploration of Mineral Resources - Cfem, the official name for mining royalties in the country - to 5.5%, according to the official Congress news outlet Ag??ncia C??mara.
This would be the second rise in such royalties in four years.
In 2017, the rate for some minerals was expanded, while collection was changed from net sales to gross revenues.
Brazil would be the third country in South America, a giant global mineral supplier, whose
congress or federal government was attempting to collect larger sums via mining royalties, amid soaring commodity prices in what some analysts were calling a new super-cycle.
The...