Workers' Party defends taxation of large fortunes

During a meeting held last Tuesday (25), the bench of the Workers' Party in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies decided that issues such as the political reform and the taxation of large fortunes will count on the endeavor of the party's congressmen to be approved by the National Congress. The leader of the party's bench, deputy José Guimarães, said that the debate about political reform, proposed by President Dilma Rousseff, is an invitation for the Congress to discuss the subject.

"Notwithstanding if its an exclusive or specific constituent assembly, the most important thing is that the President ruled the debate on political reform. The National Congress has the duty of dealing with the issue", said Guimarães. (...) "We may vote the proposal in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate or wait for the referendum. The discussion about how to do it is the shortest way of making it not viable. We will discuss the content"

Guimarães and the national president of the Workers' Party who took part in the meeting, Rui Falcão, remembered that since the Chamber of Deputies blocked the discussions on political reform, the party started a campaign to collect signatures to make the law project feasible as a popular initiative about the reform.

"We already have about 300,000 signatures. Our proposal is being welcomed by the population. I believe that Dilma's initiative of asking the Congress to examine the possibility of a referendum reinforces our struggle for political reform", said Rui Falcão.

More (in Portuguese):
http://www.brasil247.com/pt/247/poder/106561/PT-defende-taxa%C3%A7%C3%A3o-de-grandes-fortunas.htm

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The Article 153 of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 establishes the "taxation of large fortunes" as a federal tax, but it has never been regulated by the specific laws and 25 years after our current Constitution was approved, the tax is still not collected. Millionaires pay income taxes, but they are regressive - currently, a citizen living in a favela and receiving minimum wage pays proportionally four, five or six times more taxes than a billionaire.

According to the Workers' Party proposal, the taxes would be applied for citizens with liquid patrimony equal or superior to R$ 13 million (about 10,000 families).