The Brazilian Association of Footwear Industries (Abicalcados), represented by the president and executive director, Heitor Klein and Haroldo Ferreira was in the Legislative Assembly of Rio Grande do Sul, in Porto Alegre/RS, for the event of the creation of two parliamentary fronts in defense of the footwear sector. The fronts, which complement themselves in the performance of competitiveness, especially as regards state debureaucratization and decreased tax burden, were proposed by state deputies Issur Koch and Dalciso Oliveira. The aim with these fronts is to add efforts in the defense of the Gaucho sidewalk sector, seeking a better scenario for the generation of employment and income in the state. At first, the fronts will be concentrated on the debureaucracy of the state. Periodic meetings with sidewalkers will be proposed to raise the demands of the sector. Oliveira, who is a shoemaker of the Paranhana Valley, stressed that the footwear sector is special for the State and that therefore needs to defend its interests to continue generating employment and income for the population. "Today the sector pays ICMS rates for higher interstate sales than our main competitors, which has been causing, in addition to the migration of plants to other regions, the closure of establishments," said, stressing that gaucho footwear is, on average, 10% more expensive than those marketed in the other producing states, especially in the light of the largest load of the state tax. Source: Abicaladas