By WAGNER MICAH DAMASCEN*
The spectacle of servility towards the Lula government left an avenue open for Bolsonarism to criticize the government's measure and present itself to the petite bourgeoisie and informal workers as their representatives.
The Lula government announced Normative Instruction 2.219/2024 which, among other things, would monitor Pix transactions of individuals (from R$5) and legal entities (R$15), both per month, with a view to combating tax evasion.
All financial transactions in accounts (above R$2 for individuals), including Pix, are already reported by traditional banks to the Federal Revenue Service. With the normative instruction of the Lula government, all financial institutions would be required to report transactions from R$5 to R$15, allowing the Federal Revenue Service to demand explanations about the origin of this money and, eventually, taxing them.
In the words of the Secretary of the Federal Revenue, Robinson Barreirinhas, “This is good for the taxpayer, because it reduces the chance of being subject to inspection and it is also good for the Federal Revenue, because it can focus its energy on those who really need to be inspected”.
Bolsonaro supporters made a fake video of Finance Minister Fernando Haddad, in which he said he would tax Pix and that he would even include family pets in Income Tax. The Lula government reacted and mobilized a large part of the left to reject the fake news Bolsonaristas and, in addition, defending the normative Instruction made by the government itself.
And that's where the tragedy begins. After all, what we saw in the last few days was the pathetic role of a large part of the left that aimed at the role of inspector of fake news and ended up as a public relations officer for the Lula government, defending a normative instruction that aims to tax people with insignificant transactions through Pix and digital banks.
This measure by the Lula government would hit the petite bourgeoisie (small business owners) and many informal workers hard. Informality in Brazil is not new to the 39st century, since it has its roots in the immediate post-abolition period of slavery. However, the recent PT and Jair Bolsonaro governments have increased informality by destroying formal jobs and advancing the deindustrialization of the country in the name of agribusiness and national and international rentierism. Today, according to data from the IBGE, there are XNUMX million informal workers in Brazil.
After all, what is behind this normative Instruction?
To answer this, we need to place this normative instruction in a broader context. Let's remember that the year 2024 ended with a package of government evils attacking the BPC, the salary bonus and the minimum wage. But the government put a nice ribbon on this package: the exemption of Income Tax for individuals who earn up to R$5 per month. But, like a ribbon, this measure was not part of what was in the government's package and there is no forecast of implementation in the short term, contrary to the attacks.
And if 2024 ended like this, 2025 began with… the government trying to tax people who move more than R$5 per month! The same R$5!
And here the Lula government's tax policy is curious.
On January 03, it was announced that the government, through the AGU, forgave R$4,8 billion in debts owed by Azul and Gol! Exempted from paying R$4,8 billion to the public coffers, Azul and Gol announced on Thursday (16/01) the merger of the two companies, which should increase the oligopolization of commercial aviation in the country.
These episodes reveal the Lula government's policy: to keep big business owners untouched and tax small business owners and informal workers. The big tax evaders are also grateful.
And if any worker or small business owner protests against this or another government measure, he is jokingly called, by PT intellectuals, a “poor right-winger”.
But what did the so-called left do in this episode? It came out in a frenzied defense of the government's normative instruction, as if it were a technical accountant with its nose buried in the accounts notebook! And here we are referring not only to the influencers, but we also refer to parliamentarians such as Guilherme Boulos and Érika Hilton, both from PSOL.
The few criticisms of the Lula government from this left were, in fact, a conservative mantra: “the government did not communicate properly!”, “the government did not understand the battle of narratives” etc.
In a stupid moralism, hundreds of videos and tweets People who claim to be left-wing would repeat: “if you don’t evade taxes, you have nothing to fear”, ignoring the fact that workers, the middle class and the petite bourgeoisie have historically borne a heavy burden of taxes on their shoulders, unlike what happens with big business. And that the fear of being taxed more is legitimate.
This deplorable spectacle of servility towards the Lula government left an avenue open for Bolsonarism to criticize the government's measure and present itself to the petite bourgeoisie and informal workers as their representatives.
Federal deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL), who had been in a slump since the heavy blows he received for supporting the maintenance of the 6x1 scale, was smart this time and launched a denunciation of the PIX normative instruction. Nikolas Ferreira posted a video on his social networks relating the normative instruction to other economic measures of the Lula government, with millions of views.
The government could not withstand the enormous pressure coming from “below” and, on Wednesday (15/01), it backed down and withdrew the normative instruction. Defeat for the government and victory for Bolsonarism.
This episode offers us a great lesson: until the left understands that its fundamental enemy is the Lula government – since he is the one in charge of the bourgeois state – it will remain like a “flying kite”, at the mercy of the wind. In doing so, it will pave the way for the far right, representing the interests of the big bourgeoisie, to present itself to the workers, the poor and small business owners as their legitimate and bold representatives.
*Wagner Miquéias Damasceno is a professor at the Department of Social Sciences at UNIRIO.
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