Brazil's federal government collected R$ 235.6 billion in taxes and contributions in August, the biggest figure for the month since the tax authority's records began in 1995. News portal G1 reports R$ 235.6 billion, while state-run Agência Brasil puts the figure at R$ 235.5 billion. For ordinary Brazilians, it means the treasury that funds the Bolsa Família welfare program and public health care took in more money in a year when government accounts remain in the red.
Adjusted for inflation, revenue grew 8.25% from August last year, when it reached R$ 217.6 billion in today's values. Put simply, for every 100 reais that came in a year ago, 108.25 came in now. The extra R$ 18 billion or so is more than half of the R$ 34.3 billion surplus the government hopes to show for the whole year.
The tax authority credits the result to economic growth, Agência Brasil reports: higher sales lifted PIS and Cofins, taxes charged on company revenue, while higher wages and profits boosted income tax withheld from paychecks and corporate taxes (IRPJ and CSLL). Tax increases approved under President Lula also weighed in, including levies on offshore accounts and exclusive investment funds, the return of payroll taxes and a new charge on "bets", the online gambling companies. Oil helped too: with barrels more expensive because of the war between the United States and Iran, the export tax on crude oil alone brought in R$ 1.9 billion in August.
In plain terms: federal revenue is everything Brazil's central government collects in taxes and contributions, from income tax to the IOF, a tax on financial transactions. It does not include state and municipal taxes. A "real" increase means the value grew even after discounting inflation, so the treasury gained purchasing power rather than just bigger numbers.
From January to August, revenue totaled R$ 2.11 trillion before inflation adjustment, or R$ 2.13 trillion in deflated values, a real increase of 7.12% over the same period of 2025, when it stood at R$ 1.98 trillion, according to G1. It is also a record for the period. Agência Brasil, counting only revenue administered by the tax authority, reports R$ 2.019 trillion.
Why the record still does not balance the books
Even with the strong collections, the government is expected to end 2026 in the red. The official target is a surplus of 0.25% of GDP, about R$ 34.3 billion, but the fiscal framework allows the government to exclude R$ 57.8 billion in spending, such as precatórios, court-ordered debt payments. On that math, the forecast is a real shortfall of R$ 23.3 billion, and accounts would stay negative through President Lula's entire third term, G1 reports.
A warning came alongside the record. Claudemir Malaquias, head of the tax authority's Center for Tax and Customs Studies, said the expected take from a new tax on people earning over R$ 600,000 a year has fallen to R$ 10.5 billion this year, from R$ 29 billion originally projected. That money was meant to pay for exempting from income tax those who earn up to R$ 5,000 a month, and the government must announce another funding source in a budget report due Thursday (24).