Bolsonaro announces exemption from health sector salaries

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) announced, Thursday, the exemption from the salary scale for the health sector, and said that it had obtained the approval of the Minister of Economy, Paulo Geddesalthough it did not elaborate on the budgetary impact of the measure and when it would actually take effect.

In his first speech on the subject, Bolsonaro said the initiative could help find a solution to the adoption of the National Nursing Floor, a rule that was suspended last month by a decision of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) on the grounds, among other reasons, that it could lead to the dismissal of health professionals.

“I got him (Paulo Guedes), which is rare. I asked him to exempt the health paper in Brazil. There are 17 sectors already exempted and he said I can declare the exemption from health care in Brazil. The effect is consistent,” he said.

“What is the exemption. Today a non-exempt sector pays a payroll tax at the rate of 20%. The exemption becomes from 1% to 4% on the company’s total revenue. It will be beneficial and we will make more signature on the nursing hall in Brazil that the Supreme Court decided to stop,” he added , who implements the re-election campaign agenda in Recife.

The law stopped by the Supreme Court created a floor of 4,750 riyals for nurses; 70% of this amount is for nursing technicians; and 50% for nursing assistants and midwives. According to the text, the national floor was valid for employees under the CLT system and civil servants from the three areas – union, states and municipalities – including municipalities and foundations.

Bolsonaro made the remarks during a meeting with religious leaders and mayors of Pernambuco.

Later, when speaking at the electric trio in Recife, Bolsonaro returned to the topic by saying that the exemption from payroll for health would benefit “our nurses whose role is currently suspended by Dilma Rousseff’s minister, which is Minister Luis Barroso.” The audience booed the judge.

Indeed, Barroso—whom Dilma nominated for STF membership in 2013, after the Senate approved his name—was responsible for issuing an injunction suspending the effects of the law establishing a national nursing floor. But the Supreme Court later confirmed his decision.

The re-election candidate has an agenda in the Northeast, a region where he seeks to reduce the former president’s advantage Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (EN) He was in the first round.