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Brazil's Auto Sector To Benefit From 'Green' Tax Breaks



BRASILIA -(Dow Jones)- The Brazilian government aims to stimulate the use of flex-fuel low powered cars by a scale of tax incentives, Finance Minister Guido Mantega announced late Tuesday.

Flex-fuel cars can run on either ethanol or gasoline or a mixture of both fuels.

Mantega said Brazil would maintain the industrial production tax, or IPI, at 3% for flex-fuel cars with engines with less than 1 liter engines until March 2010.

The government had previously said the IPI for these vehicles would return to 7% on Jan. 1 of next year.

Mantega also said that gasoline-powered cars of 1 liter would have its IPI rate raised to 7% on Jan. 1, 2010, as planned.

For cars with flex-fuel engines between 1 and 2 liters the 7.5% IPI tax rate will be maintained until March 31 next year, Mantega said.

Cars with the same potency fueled with gasoline will pay the full 13% IPI rate on Jan. 1, Mantega said.

Mantega made the announcement alongside Jackson Schneider, president of the Brazilian Motor Vehicles Manufacturers Association, or Anfavea.

Since November 2008, the government has been providing tax incentives to auto makers by exempting them from the IPI tax.

Companies then transferred the tax savings to consumers, resulting in as much as a 7.4% reduction off the sticker price of new vehicles.

By John Kolodziejski; Dow Jones Newswires; 55-21-2586-6086, John.kolodziejski@ dowjones.com (Gerald Jeffries in Brasilia contributed to this story)


  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  11-24-091713ET
  Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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