President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took advantage this Wednesday of signing the law that cuts taxes for 15 million middle-class Brazilians – his big electoral promise in 2022 – to play down the entry into prison of his predecessor and four four-star generals, the day before, for trying to stay in power by force. “Yesterday Brazil gave the world a lesson in democracy, without fanfare, justice demonstrated its strength, showed that it was not intimidated and expressed an exquisite judgment”, he proclaimed in the Planalto Palace, in Brasilia. The veteran leftist urged his compatriots to shake off their inferiority complex and take pride in the strength of their institutions.
Lula wanted to transform the protocol act of affixing the presidential signature into a law approved unanimously by Congress, which is truly extraordinary these days, in the first event of his electoral campaign for 2026. Having turned 80, the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) and the Brazilian left confirmed a month ago that he will seek a second re-election.
“I’m not happy because they will go to jail, I’m happy because Brazil has shown that it is mature to defend democracy” and that “democracy is valid for everyone”, said Lula, who knows what it means to be deprived of freedom, even if he finds himself, like Jair Bolsonaro now, in a police station with certain comforts. The far right, which presided over Brazil under the previous president, and four generals who accompanied him to the top of power are serving the first day of their more than 20-year sentences for planning a coup. A moment that will go down in history after centuries of political influence and impunity for military coup plotters.
Four years have passed since the political resurrection of Lula, who won those elections against Bolsonaro at the head of a broad alliance, with the commitment to defend democracy from any authoritarian attack and, as far as voters’ pockets are concerned, with the promise of eliminating income tax for those earning less than 5,000 reais (800 euros or 930 dollars). The message of the event was “promise kept”.
Ten million middle-class Brazilians will stop paying income tax starting next year, another five million will pay less (those earning up to 1,180 euros, 1,380 dollars) and, to maintain fiscal balance, a minimum rate is introduced. This means that, in exchange, 140,000 super-rich compatriots, who pay an average rate of less than 3%, will now pay the minimum, 10%.
This tax reform “will not save humanity, the poor will remain poor”. With these words, Lula himself clarified that the measure is transcendental, but represents only one step in the fight against the obscene inequality that is tearing Brazil apart. His Finance Minister and creator of the tax cut, Fernando Haddad, illustrated the extent of this colossal gap with a couple of figures. The first: “The super-rich 1% owns half of Brazil’s wealth.” And “inequality in Brazil is worse than in 47 of 54 African countries.” Haddad had been designated by Lula to face Bolsonaro in the elections while he was in prison.
Both the president and the minister celebrated that poverty and inequality are at historic lows, according to a study released this Tuesday, thanks to job creation, increased income and social welfare programs.
Lula gave a passionate speech in which he defended, once again, that he and his work are living proof that it is possible to change the world. Faithful to a script that he has been developing for half a century, Lula recalled his personal story – the worker who became president of a country dominated by an elite -, the drought of his childhood in the North-East, the lesson of his mother, Doña Lindu – “you shouldn’t have debts -, the three electoral defeats, his way of doing politics – “finding the middle ground, not serving one or the other, but everyone”, his recipe for fighting inequalities – “I don’t want to take the child of the middle class out of university to put a black person there, I want to give the black person a chance”… Without forgetting to remember that 700 million people suffer from hunger in a world that produces 2.5 times what it eats and spends 2.7 trillion dollars on weapons.
The president of Brazil underlined that the far right triumphs not because of the charm of its anti-system discourse, but because “the people have stopped believing in democracy”. And in this context he praised the response of Brazilian institutions to the coup attack of Bolsonarism.
But, reflecting Lula’s difficulties in governing, the presidents of the House and Senate are at odds with the government on various internal policy differences and have refused the invitation to accompany him in the presentation of the tax reduction. Personally, his wife Janja was not by his side despite the importance of the event.
President Lula wants to make “fiscal justice” his main flag to win a fourth mandate next October. Meanwhile, the right, with Bolsonaro in prison, is looking for a candidate to compete with the veteran of the left, who leads the polls. The opposition will try to make public safety the focus of the election campaign.
