“It’s very difficult to make the rich pay taxes”, says Federal Revenue Secretary

The Federal Revenue Secretary, Robinson Barreirinhas, stated this Monday (13) that it is very difficult to make rich people pay taxes in Brazil. Barreirinhas highlighted that he refers to those who do not produce, people who “never worked”, live on income and “pay less tax than a teacher”. He defended the approval of measures that promote tax justice.

“It’s very difficult to make the rich pay taxes, those who are better able to pay taxes… I’m not talking about those who produce, I’m talking about those who don’t produce, people who, often, have never worked in their lives, live on income and pay less tax than a teacher, how fair is that?” said the secretary during the National Congress of Revenue Auditors.

The economic team has been working on proposals to increase revenue. The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, defends the fiscal target of zero deficit in 2024, however, the political wing of the Lula government wants to make the target more flexible. Barreirinhas criticized the cutting of resources in areas such as health to achieve the goal.

“Cutting meals, cutting medicines to reach the fiscal target is easy, it’s difficult to make rich people pay taxes. We reverse this logic. And it’s really difficult… It’s not even a question of how much will be raised. It’s a question of justice. We owe this to the Brazilian population. We have to advance in tax justice,” he stated.