Lula says he fights with PT economists for exemption from income tax up to R$ 5,000

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) said this Wednesday (18) that he is fighting with the party’s economists, saying that it is necessary to “change the logic” of the Income Tax to guarantee exemption to those who earn up to R$ 5,000 and make the richer pay more.

“My companions know that I have a fight with PT economists. You know that people say ‘Lula, if we exempt up to R$ 5,000, that’s 60% of the country’s collection, from people who earn up to R$ 6,000’. Well, then let’s change the logic. Decrease for the poor and increase for the rich”, said the petista.

The statement was made to an audience of trade unionists at the Planalto Palace in the same week that Minister Fernando Haddad (Finance) defended voting changes in the Income Tax in the second half, after a tax reform on taxes linked to consumption in the first.

The Chief Executive also said that a “fight” will be necessary to approve the tax reform in this way. He also said that it will take mobilization and pressure, including on the federal government.

The president repeated that it was necessary to place the poor in the Budget and the rich in the Income Tax. During breakfast with journalists last week, he had already said that rich people need to pay more taxes.

During this Wednesday’s ceremony, an inter-ministerial ordinance was signed that creates a working group to draft a bill that institutes the policy of valuing the minimum wage. The group will be valid for 90 days.

Such as Sheet showed, the Lula government must hold the additional readjustment of the minimum wage to avoid the extra cost of up to R$ 7.7 billion, which would need to be accommodated through cuts in other areas. With that, the floor should be maintained at R$ 1,302.

The presidents of the centrals discussed proposals, among them the appreciation of the minimum wage. They advocate rescuing the formula adopted until 2019, of correcting the value for inflation plus GDP growth (Gross Domestic Product) two years earlier, which would raise the minimum wage this year to R$ 1,343.

Adilson Araújo, president of CTB, made a more incisive defense of the readjustment in the minimum wage.
“This matters a lot for the lives of 60 million Brazilians. This matters a lot because it increases, moves the economy, as was the emergency aid”, he said.

He also stated that the minimum wage debate cannot be guided by the “god of the market” and that fiscal responsibility should not be at the expense of “the poorest people”.

The president of Força Sindical, Miguel Torres, said that it is necessary to “definitely solve the financing of the union activity”, but rejected the return of the union tax.

“What the workers are not asking for and are not asking for in return is the union tax. We want the negotiation to be valued, [que] workers decide what they pay and how they pay the union,” he said.

President of the CSB, Antonio Neto defended the creation of a national plan for professional training involving the MEC (Ministry of Education), technical schools, universities and the S System. He also stated that it is necessary to have parity in the management of the S System.

Proposals such as correction of the Income Tax table, regulation of labor relations mediated by platforms and applications, appreciation of the union system, strengthening of the Ministry of Labor and equality in labor relations between men were also mentioned by the presidents of the unions. and women.

“We have no doubts that this attack was planned, financed and this attack on democracy cannot go unpunished. It is fundamental that all those who participated in this coup movement be identified, judged and, based on the law, exemplarily punished. And without amnesty” , said the president of the CUT (Central Única dos Trabalhadores), Sérgio Nobre.

In addition to repudiating the coup acts, the speeches of the union leaders also criticized the government of the predecessor Jair Bolsonaro (PL), whom they called genocidal, and recalled the extinction of the Ministry of Labor at the beginning of his government.

“Bolsonaro harshly despised the representation of workers. On the other hand, he treated business and political sectors interested in dividing, disorganizing, workers and union organizations and, in this way, increase their profits”, said Torres.

Bolsonaro extinguished the folder at the beginning of the government, but recreated it in July 2021 to house Onyx Lorenzoni in a ministerial reform. The folder also included Pensions.