The president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, during a meeting with leaders of trade union centrals, at the Planalto Palace.| Photo: Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) said this Wednesday (18) that he will “fight” for exemption from income tax for those earning up to R$5,000. The exemption for this track was a campaign promise by the PT. The representative returned to defend the proposal during a meeting with representatives of trade union centrals at the Planalto Palace.

“We are going to fulfill everything that I presented in the campaign. There is no other reason for me to be here. I was elected to do things better than I did before. I’m going to fight to do it because I promised during the campaign that we’re going to make income tax exemption for those who earn up to R$ 5 thousand”, said Lula. Today, the IR exemption reaches the range of up to R$ 1.9 thousand.

The Chief Executive linked the exemption to tax reform and defended burdening the richest. “The truth is that today’s poor, who earn R$3,000, pay proportionally more than someone who earns R$100,000. Even because, who earns a lot, pays little. Those who earn a lot receive it as a dividend, they receive it as a profit, like anything to pay little income tax, ”he said.

“We cannot do tax exemption on the scream. We have to make laws, and we’re going to build that. I liked Fernando Haddad’s declaration that we are going to carry out the tax reform in the first half of the year, and for that we need a lot of discussions and the people need to put pressure on”, said Lula at the twitter.