More than 1,000 rules have already been mapped for repeal by the economic team of Flavio Bolsonaro, the senator and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro who is the main challenger to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil's October election. The pledge came on Monday (14) from Daniella Marques, the campaign's economic coordinator and former head of state-owned bank Caixa Economica Federal under Jair Bolsonaro, at an event in Sao Paulo. For voters, it amounts to a promise to roll back taxes created or raised while Fernando Haddad ran the Finance Ministry in the Lula government.
Speaking at a seminar hosted by the Esfera group at Casa Fasano, she said the instruction came from the candidate himself. Measures cited to Folha de S.Paulo include taking the IOF, a federal tax on bank transfers and investments, back to its 2022 rate, and scrapping the tax on oil exports. According to O Globo, the targets also include accessory obligations, the paperwork companies must file with tax authorities, and other red tape.
"Flavio gave the team guidance to work on revoking and walking back every tax created or raised by Haddad. We already have more than a thousand rules mapped for repeal, drawing some inspiration from what Milei's government did in Argentina," she said.
What the rules are
Most of the rules in the crosshairs are infra-legal: ordinances and resolutions issued by ministries and agencies, which never pass through Congress and can be undone by decree. Accessory obligations, the forms and reports companies owe the tax office, are also on the list. To grasp the scale, repealing a thousand rules works out to roughly one per working day across a four-year term.
The Milei example
The declared model is Argentina's Javier Milei, in office since December 2023. "Milei is a great example in terms of recovering investment capacity and reducing bureaucracy and taxes," she added. As Folha reports, poverty in Argentina fell from 42% to 32%, meaning about 10 in every 100 Argentines left poverty, but the economy stagnated, unemployment rose and local industry is struggling against foreign competition.
The announced route to lower interest rates runs through fiscal tightening. "Whoever does not take care of the accounts does not take care of the people. We will focus on putting the accounts in the black so that interest rates can fall in Brazil," she said, defending the central bank's independence. Cuts, she said, would come from tax privileges and a leaner state, with no changes to social programs.
She also criticized Lula's handling of public finances, saying he "has been very irresponsible, especially with the poorest, by denying that there is a problem that is mathematical". And she acknowledged that Congress will have the final word: "The technicians will take a menu for discussion with Congress. Congress is sovereign in this decision." The pledge comes as the race tightens: a Quaest poll released on Monday, reported by G1, put Flavio numerically ahead of Lula in a runoff simulation for the first time, 42% to 40%.