President made the 1st speech on national television in his 3rd term and confirmed increases in the minimum wage and income tax exemption
The president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) confirmed this Sunday the measures to increase the value of the minimum wage and the expansion of the Income Tax exemption range for those earning up to R$2,640 in a 3-minute and 53-second statement made on national radio and television this Sunday (30.Apr.2023).
At the beginning of his speech, Lula said, without naming any names, that the governments that came after the PT administrations made the situation of workers in the country worse. He stated that his return to power is aimed at “fix and rebuild the country”.
“Everything has gotten worse in recent years. The job disappeared. Wages have lost purchasing power. Inflation rose. Interest rates skyrocketed. Rights conquered over decades were destroyed overnight. Few times in history have the Brazilian people been treated with so much contempt, and had so little to celebrate”he said.
“Fortunately, that bad weather is in the past. Brazil has once again recognized the fundamental role of working people in building Brazil’s future. Since the first day of this third term you have given me, I have been working to fix and rebuild our country. Recomposing the achievements lost by male and female workers is a priority for our government”, completed.
Watch the speech (3min53sec):
The president also said that workers, micro-entrepreneurs, retirees and pensioners “they are responsible for generating wealth in Brazil”.
The video was recorded on Saturday morning (April 29, 2023) at Palácio da Alvorada by the team of the national Audiovisual Secretary, Ricardo Stuckert. The Minister of Secom (Secretary of Social Communication of the Presidency), Paulo Pimenta, followed. This was Lula’s 1st speech on national television in his 3rd term.
The president announced the signing of a provisional measure to raise the minimum wage, which will rise from R$1,302 to R$1,320 – a 1.38% readjustment. The new value will be valid from Monday (May 1, 2023). “It is a small but real increase above inflation for the first time after six years”, he said.
Minimum wage readjustments will cost R$40.8 billion in 2023, according to calculations by Gabriel Leal de Barros, chief economist at Ryo Asset. By the end of 2022, the minimum wage was R$1,212.
The minimum wage impacts public spending because it represents the floor of social security benefits, such as retirement, pensions and aid. The cost of raising the minimum wage to R$1,302 in 2023 would be R$36 billion. With the increase of R$ 18 in the salary from May, the additional expense will be R$ 40.8 billion to the Union.
Lula also said that he will send to Congress a bill that will define the new minimum wage appreciation policy based on the calculation of the previous year’s inflation and the consolidated GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of 2 years before.
There is still no date, however, for the presentation of the text to the Legislature. The government wants to approve the proposal by the end of this year so that the new rules start to apply from 2024.
According to Lula, politics will be a “the great instrument of social transformation that it was in the past, when [o salário mínimo] grew 74% above inflation”.
“It is necessary to remember that the appreciation of the minimum wage is not essential only for those who earn the minimum wage. With more money in circulation, trade sales increase, industry produces more. The wheel of the economy turns again, and new jobs are created”, he said.
In his speech, Lula reiterated his promise that he will exempt anyone earning up to R$5,000 from income tax. He said that the amount should be reached by the end of his term, in 2027.
The Chief Executive announced the 1st stage of this process, which was to increase the exemption range from R$ 1,903 to R$ 2,640.
The change in the IRPF (Individual Income Tax) table as of May 1st will result in a cost of R$ 3.2 billion in 2023. According to the Federal Revenue Service, around 13 million people will be exempt from this tax year.
In 2024, the impact will be BRL 6 billion. Since 2015, there is no correction in the exemption range.
In February, when Lula announced the change in the table, the Tax Authorities said that the update was due to inflation in the period, which was approximately 50%.
“To implement the measure, the IRPF exemption range will be increased to R$ 2,112, with a simplified monthly deduction of R$ 528 being allowed”, informed the entity in a note.
The announced measures meet part of the demands of the trade union centrals. However, one of the most demanded issues has not yet advanced within the government: the regularization of app workers. Lula promised during the election campaign that these professionals would have labor rights similar to those of other categories.
Lula is expected at the act that the trade union centrals will do on Monday (May 1, 2023) in Vale do Anhangabaú, in the center of São Paulo, but his participation was not confirmed by the advisory of the Presidency of the Republic. The Chief Executive spent Sunday in Brasília. The event is organized by:
- CUT (United Workers’ Central);
- Union Force;
- UGT (General Union of Workers);
- CSB (Central of Brazilian Trade Unions);
- CTB (Central of Workers and Workers of Brazil);
- NCST (New Workers Union Central).
- Interunion Central of the Working and Public Class
Read the full 3-minute, 53-second speech:
“My friends and my girlfriends,
“Tomorrow, May 1st, is the day to honor the working people of Brazil.
“You who work in factories, in civil construction, in banks, in stores or in offices. You app workers. You microentrepreneurs. You, who work in the fields, in schools, in hospitals.
“You young people who are taking their first steps in the world of work. You, retirees and pensioners, who, over a lifetime, helped build Brazil with the fruit of your sweat.
“It doesn’t matter the profession or the place of work. The important thing is that you are responsible for generating wealth in Brazil.
“You remember the achievements you had when we governed Brazil. Record job creation. Minimum wage growing above inflation. Guaranteed labor rights.
“Everything has gotten worse in recent years. The job disappeared. Wages have lost purchasing power. Inflation rose. Interest rates skyrocketed. Rights conquered over decades were destroyed overnight.
“Few times in history have the Brazilian people been treated with such contempt, and had so little to celebrate.
“Fortunately, that bad weather is in the past. Brazil has once again recognized the fundamental role of working people in building Brazil’s future.
“Since the first day of this third term you have given me, I have been working to fix and rebuild our country.
“Recomposing the gains lost by male and female workers is a priority for our government.
“Starting with the appreciation of the minimum wage, which had not had a real increase for six years, and had been losing purchasing power day after day. But we are already starting to reverse this loss.
“As of tomorrow, the minimum wage will be worth R$ 1,320 reais for active workers, retirees and pensioners. It’s a small but real rise above inflation for the first time in six years.
“In the next few days, I will submit a bill to the National Congress so that this achievement will be permanent, and the minimum wage will be readjusted every year above inflation, as it used to be when we governed Brazil.
“And you can be sure that, by the end of my mandate, it will once again be a great instrument of social transformation that it was in the past, when it grew 74% above inflation.
“It was thanks to this that millions of Brazilian men and women came out of extreme poverty and paved the way for a better life.
“It is necessary to remember that the appreciation of the minimum wage is not essential only for those who earn the minimum wage.
“With more money in circulation, trade sales increase, industry produces more. The wheel of the economy turns again, and new jobs are created.
“I also want to announce another very important measure. We are changing the income tax exemption range, which eight years ago was frozen at R$1,903 reais.
“From now on, the amount of up to R$ 2,640 reais per month will no longer pay a penny of income tax. And, until the end of my mandate, the exemption will be valid for up to R$ 5 thousand reais per month.
“My friends and my girlfriends. There will be no reconstruction of Brazil without the appreciation of workers.
“Brazil will grow again with social inclusion and new jobs will be created.
“You can be sure that your hard work will be increasingly recognized and rewarded.
“And the 1st of May, which has always been a day of struggle, will once again be a day of conquests for working people.
“Thank you very much, and happy May Day.”
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