Finance Minister Fernando Haddad.| Photo: Washington Costa/Ascom/MF.

The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, said this Thursday (6th) that he considers Brazil’s tax system “very unfair”. Haddad said that he intends to tax and “open wide” which are the big companies that are “sucking in the public budget”.

“I, as a citizen, consider our tax system very unfair. I don’t think it’s fair to make an adjustment [fiscal] about who is in need of a push to move up in life, to grow and to develop. And keep these teats open by the Budget, without transparency,” said the minister, reported Folha de S. Paulo.

“My desire is to list what is happening. Where is the public money going? When citizens find out what is happening, they will be indignant. ‘Doesn’t my salary go up so that this billionaire can continue sucking on the public budget?'” , completed.

Haddad defended more transparency about who receives some kind of tax benefit. “Congress will ask for the list [de quem recebe benefícios fiscais] and I will give”, he stressed. The minister stated that the government is considering taxing 500 “huge” companies. The folder calculates that the Brazilian state subsidizes companies in about R$ 88 billion.

“If he [Congresso] don’t want to make billionaire companies pay a little more [de imposto] of what they pay today, because they pay very little, he will have to look the other way and cut the meat of those who don’t have it, of those who are on the bone”, reinforced Haddad.