Pix crisis and “fiscal crisis”

Photo by Lula Marques/ Agência Brasil
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By MATHEUS COLARES OF BIRTH*

The political project of fiscal austerity from the political line that Fernando Haddad occupies within the PT is worrying, even more worrying, however, is that the minister has so much power to implement it.

1.

The Lula government begins the year 2025 with chaos generated around a normative instruction from the federal revenue service expanding the scope of financial monitoring after the publication of a misleading video posted by congressman Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG). Although nefarious, the video does not cover the entire problematic dimension of the event. It is necessary to get to the bottom of this to avoid situations like this, which calls for a voracious criticism of the Ministry of Finance, headed by Fernando Haddad.

A week after one of the government's biggest political crises, the Ministry of Finance released a document outlining its 25 priorities for 2025. Unfortunately, it seems that Fernando Haddad has learned nothing from the Pix crisis, which is not surprising, after all this is not the first – and apparently will not be the last – crisis that he has caused in the government.

These priorities follow the line of fiscal austerity, a political project that Fernando Haddad – and his true bosses (FEBRABAN, Faria Lima and co.) – unscrupulously pursue. The Pix crisis clearly demonstrates this and, therefore, it is necessary to address it in the broader context of the implementation of this project outside the simplistic duality of moralistic demonization of the extreme right and blind defense of the government. In this essay, I address the serious problems behind Fernando Haddad's actions in concrete political practice. I will try to show in the second part that the need to neutralize him politically is, in fact, an attempt to neutralize “his” austerity project.

2.

The federal revenue regulatory instruction initially published in September 2024[I] It aimed to adapt tax control rules and the provision of financial transaction data that have existed since 2003 to monitor new payment technologies, especially Pix. The regulation does not represent a decree to increase the tax burden on Brazilians, although its purpose is also unclear.

The negative repercussions of the instruction were based precisely on this gray area and occurred in January of this year when the opportunistic congressman Nikolas Ferreira published a misleading video, but subtle in its deception, which touched precisely on a real and fair concern of Brazilians regarding the increase in the tax burden. In the video, the congressman distorts the content of the amendment, saying that it would necessarily imply an increase in taxes.

This congressman is, without a doubt, an opportunist of the worst kind. Knowing this, how effective is a political strategy conducted through a mere moral criticism of the congressman? Why, instead, doesn't the government focus on avoiding blunders of this kind that open the way for this type of predictable attack to happen? This points not to a problem with the opposition that emerges victorious from this confrontation, but rather to a problem with political line, the main culprit for which is Fernando Haddad.

In the government bubble, the self-criticism that was being made placed at the center of the problem a problem of government communication. Although this does not exhaust the issue, there is some truth to it if we understand the communication problem as a problem of party organization. After all, the way the government dealt with the issue after the explosion shows that the normative instruction did not come from a centralized initiative. That is, it was decided collectively in internal party votes. In fact, it came from an individual and isolated initiative of the Ministry of Economy.

In an interview with the newspaper Folha de S. Paul President Lula was extremely irritated with the way the monitoring campaign had been conducted. According to him, one of the main reasons was the fact that “[…] a measure of this magnitude had received bureaucratic treatment from the economic team, without the definition of a communication strategy. [Furthermore] The president and the Civil House claim that they were not aware of the measure until it was reported on social media.”[ii]

In other words, this means that there was no internal political discussion within the party about the viability of this measure. In other words, it seems that the idea simply originated in the minds of Fernando Haddad and his executive secretary – who later acted as a front man in the situation – and was immediately transformed into a decree. This shows the delicacy and sensitivity of the minister, who presents a political approach analogous to that of an elephant in a china shop.

In addition to boosting far-right posts on social media, the video feeds on a real concern among the Brazilian people. After all, how can we be sure that the measure would not imply taxation? Why would the government be interested in carrying out this monitoring if it is not to later, perhaps, create some type of tax on it? These questions are fully justified, especially when it comes to Fernando Haddad, who is known for his greed for tax collection that is exclusively aimed at the poor and middle classes, who are the targets of the monitoring.

The measure in question was intended to monitor total transactions of R$5.000 for individuals and R$15.000 for legal entities. Now, this is a paltry amount, given that it is not about savings, but about transactions. This means that the measure does indeed cover a large portion of the working population. Imagine a popsicle vendor who makes an initial investment of R$1.500 in a shipment of 3.000 popsicles. If the popsicle vendor sells each popsicle for R$2, he will collect R$6.000, that is, R$1.000 more than the measure foresees. However, his real profit is only R$4.500. This vendor obviously does not have R$6.000 lying around in his account – probably much less. Imagine if this popsicle vendor uses this amount to support his family of four.

What Fernando Haddad's measure implies is that such seller would be subject to inspection and could be called to testify before the Federal Revenue Service to clarify his expenses. Given that the federal government's justification for the measure was to combat tax fraud,[iii] For Fernando Haddad, its creator, this humble popsicle seller is a criminal tax evader and other workers like him should be punished. But the large aviation oligopolies that had a debt of R$4,8 billion reais forgiven at the beginning of the year by the AGU are completely honest companies.[iv]

3.

This is not the first time, however, that, in his political ineptitude, Fernando Haddad has demonstrated his hatred for the base of the social pyramid. We can already say that this is a standard approach of the minister. There are other quite significant episodes, namely the attack on the BPC and the minimum wage announced in October 2024 with the spending cut package.

In mid-October – during one of the most tense elections in the history of the city of São Paulo – Fernando Haddad, with his unparalleled political sensitivity, gives an interview to journalist Monica Bergamo from Folha de S. Paul announcing, with these words, “the priority of the Lula government should be to cut spending”[v]. In the same interview, Fernando Haddad states that the market is right to be concerned about the fact that the budget does not fit within the fiscal rule”[vi]. What we have here is not a government official, but an undercover market agent. Furthermore, this package was another measure by the minister that was not discussed at the government summits.[vii]

Another unfortunate episode occurred during the 2024 mobilizations for the end of the 6x1 scale. Regarding the issue that provoked mobilizations throughout the country, Fernando Haddad said he did not know what was happening and had not followed the debate.[viii] Now, if a public administration minister from the Workers' Party is not following a demand of such relevance to the working class, what is he doing then?

Finally, one last and emblematic episode dates back more than 10 years, but retains its importance in light of recent events. In 2013, Brazil went through a period of political turmoil that led to the coup against President Dilma Rousseff. As the great journalist Mauro Lopes recalls, dissatisfaction with her government had been building up, but the trigger for the protests was set off in São Paulo by a decree increasing bus and subway fares by R$0,20. Who signed the decree? Fernando Haddad, the city's mayor at the time.[ix]

The political austerity project of the political line that Fernando Haddad occupies within the PT is worrying, but even more worrying is that the minister has so much political power to implement it despite its disastrous consequences. The Pix case is just another one in Fernando Haddad's nefarious resume and, therefore, we must contextualize it. The lack of such contextualization is what led the debate on the issue on social media to take superficial directions.

Progressives and government supporters limited themselves to denouncing the chauvinism and opportunism of the Minas Gerais congressman, stating that he does not care about the people he falsely said would be taxed. And does Fernando Haddad care? Every other day the minister proposes some attack on basic rights, demonizes public investment and sabotages his own party.

However, there is hope in recent events. Lula has already shown dissatisfaction with the minister's unilateral decisions.[X] Let's hope that this is the final straw, that he loses strength within the party and that his capacity for political action is neutralized, for the good of the government itself.[xi]

*Matheus Colares of the Birth He holds a Master's degree in Philosophy from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). He is currently studying for a PhD in Philosophy from the University of East Anglia (UK).

Notes


[I]http://normas.receita.fazenda.gov.br/sijut2consulta/link.action?naoPublicado=&idAto=140539&visao=original

[ii] https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/mercado/2025/01/presidente-lula-ve-sucessao-de-erros-e-derrota-para-oposicao-em-norma-sobre-pix.shtml

[iii] https://www.gov.br/secom/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/2025/janeiro/nova-norma-fortalece-combate-a-crimes-financeiros-e-nao-monitora-transacoes-diarias

[iv] https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/mercado/2025/01/azul-e-gol-fecham-acordo-com-a-uniao-para-renegociar-dividas-de-r-75-bilhoes.shtml

[v] https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/colunas/monicabergamo/2024/10/haddad-diz-que-batata-quente-dos-gastos-virou-prioridade-nos-debates-com-lula.shtml

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] https://www.ocafezinho.com/2024/11/11/gleisi-diz-que-haddad-nao-consultou-o-pt-sobre-corte-de-gastos/

[viii] https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCRU5ZrJnJe/

[ix] https://exame.com/brasil/decisao-sobre-iptu-em-sp-deve-afetar-tarifa-de-onibus/

[X] https://veja.abril.com.br/economia/a-cutucada-de-lula-em-haddad-antes-da-reuniao-ministerial#google_vignette

[xi] See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVOJDtnHtJ0;


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