Lula’s Party Files Bills to Tax the Rich

Politics: Brazil

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party (PT) says it filed four bills in Brazil’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, on Friday 13 November 2026 to raise taxes on high-net-worth individuals and some investors. The filing came while the government was negotiating with its own lawmakers over a separate budget-savings bill.

President Lula’s party wants high-net-worth individuals and investors to pay more, while the government asks Congress for a savings plan. The bills are a statement of intent, not yet law.

What the Four Bills Would Do

The PT caucus said in a statement that the bills are meant to create room in the budget for social programmes and public investment. The largest would create a tax on great fortunes, which Brazil’s 1988 Constitution allows but Congress has never written into law.

The tax would start at 0.7% of net worth above R$15 million (about US$2.6 million) and rise to 3% above R$200 million (about US$35 million), at R$5.67 per US$1 (RT, 13 November close). In November 2025 Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that Congress has failed in its duty to pass the law, without setting a deadline.

A second bill would bring back a 15% income tax on profits and dividends that companies pay to individuals, a tax that Brazil ended in 1995. Since January 2026, Law 15,270 of 2025 withholds 10% at source on the full amount when one company pays an individual resident more than R$50,000 (about US$8,800) in a month.

A third bill would tax at 7.5% the income from financial bonds that are now exempt, including LCI and LCA, which are tax-free credit notes issued by banks for housing and farm lending. A fourth would lift the tax on interest on equity, called JCP in Brazil and a way companies pay shareholders instead of dividends, from 17.5% to 20%.

Why the Filing Comes Now

The bills arrived while the government pushes a budget-savings bill whose main text the Senate approved on Thursday 12 November by 45 votes to 31. Four amendment votes in the Senate are due on Tuesday 17 November before the bill reaches the Chamber.

Planning and Budget Minister Bruno Moretti has said the bill pairs spending limits with limits on the tax credits companies use to offset what they owe. Lindbergh Farias, a PT deputy from Rio de Janeiro, argued before Congress’s joint budget committee on Wednesday 11 November that the government should raise revenue by taxing LCI and LCA rather than cutting spending.

What It Means for Investors and US Readers

Nothing changes for holders of Brazilian shares or bonds today, because the bills are proposals and each needs committee work and a floor vote. If the dividend or bond bills ever passed, they would cut the after-tax income of individual investors in Brazil, the same group that already faces the 10% withholding on large payouts.

The bill texts have not been seen in full, so how foreign holders, including US investors in Brazilian stocks, would be treated is not known. The dollar closed at about 5.67 reais on Friday 13 November (RT), so deficit-control news can move the currency that US investors in Brazilian assets are exposed to.

What Is Not Known

It is not known whether Chamber leaders will schedule a vote on any of the four bills, or when. How much money the bills would raise, and whether they would reach foreign investors, has not been stated.

The government and the PT caucus also differ in public. Moretti defends the savings bill as a mix of spending limits and limits on tax credits, while Farias wants taxes on the wealthy to carry more of the load.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Brazil’s Workers’ Party propose on 13 November?

The PT caucus says it filed four bills in the Chamber of Deputies. They propose a wealth tax from 0.7% to 3%, a 15% dividend tax, a 7.5% tax on exempt bonds such as LCI and LCA, and a rise in the tax on interest on equity from 17.5% to 20%.

Are the bills law?

No, they have only been filed. No committee or vote date is known, so nothing changes for taxpayers or investors yet.