Auxílio Brasil generates distortions in family registrations, suggests TCU to Alckmin

The president of the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União), Bruno Dantas, said this Wednesday (16) that the format of the Auxílio Brasil encourages families to “fractionate” themselves in the program’s registration to obtain larger payments.

After meeting with the elected vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), Minister Dantas also praised Bolsa Família.

“The TCU is concluding, probably in the next few weeks, the most complete evaluation that we have ever made of the Auxílio Brasil program, including showing the comparison between Bolsa Família and Auxílio, based on the design and eligibility criteria”, said the president of TCU the press.

According to Dantas, some of the conclusions are in the sense that Auxílio Brasil has encouraged the division of family groups to receive more resources. “It hurts families that can’t be broken down, like mothers with two or three young children,” she said.

Alckmin stated that the TCU’s analysis reinforces the importance of guaranteeing an addition of R$ 150 per child under six years of age in the payment of families.

“A single person and a mother with three children receive the same amount, hence the Bolsa Família supplement”, said the vice-president-elect.

The team of the president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), plans to reformulate Auxílio Brasil and return to using the name Bolsa Família, a program that marked the PT’s previous administrations. For this, Lula’s allies are going to propose the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) of the Transition to remove R$ 175 billion in expenses foreseen with the income transfer program from the reach of the spending ceiling.

Dantas provided the transitional government team with reports on the findings of court auditors regarding government programs and the Presidency’s accounts. The documents also assess actions promoted by the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government during the pandemic.

These reports were already available on the TCU website. There are four documents: 1) “High Risk List of the Federal Public Administration”, 2) “Inspection Report on Government Policies and Programs of 2021”, 3) “Government Accounts 2021” and 4) “TCU and National Development “.

“There are very important issues in the Brazilian fiscal framework. One of the points we highlight is the urgent need to establish criteria for tax exemptions. Brazil has more than 4% of GDP committed to exemptions, this is double what it was in 2002” , said Dantas.

Also called tax expenditures by the Ministry of Economy, subsidies reduce public revenue from tax exceptions created to reduce costs to consumers or producers. The account will pass the BRL 450 billion mark for the first time in 2023, a nominal advance of 49% since 2019 (first year of government).

Dantas also praised the Bolsa Família program after meeting with Alckmin.

“We presented conclusions in this report showing that with a smaller volume of resources, the Bolsa Família program manages to reduce poverty in Brazil in a much greater percentage than any other program”, said the TCU president.