BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said on Wednesday that his team is studying reducing taxes and encouraging informal workers to file tax returns by granting them up to a 20% bonus over their earnings, what he called a “negative tax.”
Brazil’s economy is reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, which has sent many workers into unemployment. Guedes, an orthodox economist, has long proposed lowering taxes without offering specific details.
Under the proposal laid out by Guedes in a radio interview, the government would deposit the 20% bonus into a bank account that would be similar to a savings account.
He added that the government is also looking into cutting taxes, possibly by reducing the amount of tax payable on earnings up to the legal minimum wage.
(Reporting by Gabriel Ponte; editing by Richard Pullin)
