Left-Wing Party Calls on Brazil’s Supreme Court to Regulate Wealth Tax

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The PSOL (Socialism and Liberty Party) brought a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality by Omission (ADO) before the STF (Federal Supreme Court) based on the failure of Congress to implement the tax on “large fortunes” specified in the 1988 Constitution.

“Article 153 of the Federal Constitution provides for seven federal taxes. All of these are regulated, except for the one which is levied on large fortunes. In other words, for 31 years our parliament has failed to implement a constitutional order,” said Juliano Medeiros, the party’s national president.

Brazil is one of the countries with the highest rates of socioeconomic inequality in the world, particularly in tax matters.

According to a very recent survey conducted by Urbach Hacker Young International Limited, the country charges 32 percent less tax on high income, compared to the seven most industrialized countries in the world (G7).

This is because the maximum tax rate on personal income in Brazil is 27.5 percent, while in the G7 countries it averages 47.9 percent per year.

In relation to taxes on consumption, they represent 48 percent of all taxes collected in Brazil, whereas in the OECD, a group that includes the most developed nations in the world, the average is 33 percent; in the United States, it is only 18 percent.

The tax on great wealth could be an efficient tool for tackling social inequalities. PSOL has proposed its implementation in the debate on pension reform and continues to advocate for tax reform.

“We need to dispel the smokescreen that hides the real reasons for our socioeconomic crisis. The solution is obvious. It is unethical to maintain this outdated tax system, which privileges the wealthiest and overburdens the most impoverished,” Medeiros says.

The Socialism and Liberty Party is a left-wing party that describes itself as socialist and democratic. The ideology of the party varies between the left and the extreme left, with members embracing socialism, anti-capitalism, and anti-imperialism.