Budget Rapporteur wants 9% readjustment for Executive servants, equal to those of the judiciary

The rapporteur-general for the Budget, Senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI), said this Thursday (1) that he will seek space in the Budget to grant a greater readjustment to Executive servants, equivalent to the 9% foreseen for the Judiciary.

Castro also harshly criticized President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) for promising during his reelection campaign the maintenance of Auxílio Brasil in the amount of R$ 600 next year, but sending the budget piece to Congress without this amount.

“It was a surprise for us not to have sent [o Auxílio Brasil de R$ 600]. If he’s going to give, he doesn’t have to promise. Just send it to Congress. If not, that promise is not believable,” he said.

The rapporteur also added that the new value of Auxílio Brasil and also the correction of the Income Tax table are matters that will need to be discussed with the after the presidential election, with the winning candidate.

Marcelo Castro gave a press conference the day after the federal government forwarded the budget bill to the National Congress. The proposal provides for an average benefit of R$ 405 for Auxílio Brasil, which is below the amount being paid between August and December of this year. The project also does not contemplate real gain with the readjustment of the minimum wage.

Another point of the piece forwarded provides for a reserve of R$ 11.6 billion to increase salaries of executive branch servants, an amount sufficient to grant a linear adjustment of at least 4.85%.

Marcelo Castro stated that the readjustment for the Executive’s servants is a “big problem” to be faced during the processing of the LOA and that he promises a great effort to “equate the problem”.

“What is our objective? To make a study so that the Executive’s servant can have readjustment close to the judiciary”, he said.

“We are going to work so that there is no situation in which civil servants with higher salaries have a higher readjustment than those of the Executive, who traditionally earn less”, he added.

The senator recalled that the Federal Supreme Court approved a readjustment of 18% for judicial servants, which will be paid over two years.

The senator, who is a political ally of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), criticized Jair Bolsonaro for not fulfilling his past and current campaign promises. Castro was referring to the correction of the Income Tax table, promised in 2018 by the current president, and also to the Auxílio Brasil of R$ 600.

Regarding the IR table, he said that Bolsonaro is close to completing the fourth year of his term, without having sent a proposal to change it. Castro stated that the lack of correction flattens wages and impacts purchasing power, particularly for the salaried class.

The emedebista senator also stated that the two issues will need to be discussed with the president-elect in October. He also pointed out as a possibility for the payment of the Auxílio Brasil of R$ 600 that the next president will forward an extraordinary provisional measure, so that the payment is made outside the spending ceiling.

Asked if he defended the payment of the benefit outside the ceiling, Castro avoided expressing a position and said that the initiative should not come from him.

The rapporteur also defended the government’s initiative to maintain the reduction of federal taxes on fuels in 2023

“The government proposes to continue this subsidy in 2023 and we think that is correct. The price of fuel is high and the measure can relieve the middle class, it is fair”, he evaluated.

The budget rapporteur also stated that he did not see any problems in the government’s initiative to allocate R$ 10 billion from the rapporteur’s amendments to complying with the constitutional minimum for health.