Giant duck used in campaign again tax rises
A 12m-tall inflatable duck was placed outside the National Congress building.
The National Front Against Tax Rises, an association of over 160 organizations from a number of industries, placed outside the National Congress building today (Oct. 1) a 12m-tall inflatable duck. The protest is part of a campaign against tax rises entitled Não vou pagar o pato (literally, “I won't pay the duck”, a Portuguese idiom equivalent to “I'm not the one to blame” in English) staged by the São Paulo Federation of Industries (Fiesp). In addition to the giant duck, tens of smaller dummies were thrown onto the reflecting pool by the building.
“This is a demonstration by the Brazilian society against the increase in taxes. If raising taxes could solve Brazil's problem, Brazil would be facing no problem whatsoever, as tax revenues this year will total [$500 billion]. That's a lot of money. Brazil's problem is the government, the size of the Brazilian government, the misspending, the lack of efficiency,” argued Fiesp chairman Paulo Skaf.
Skaf said the goal is to make clear to the government that no one is against the fiscal adjustment, but it should be implemented by cutting down expenditures, stop misspending and squandering resources, misspending, and not by hiking up levies. “We won't tolerate the return of the CPMF or any other levy to weigh heavy on the Brazilian people. We're using this campaign to show how much product prices are affected by taxes,” he said.
Last week, a constitutional amendment bill was submitted to Congress on the creation of a new Temporary Contribution on Financial Transactions (the CPMF tax, as it is known in Brazil), to stand at 0.2%. The measure comes as part of the package which aims to bring public accounts back into balance. The funds raised through the CPMF will be earmarked for Social Security.
The campaign organizers have thus far amassed over 300 thousand signatures online. Their goal is to beat the 300 thousand threshold, after which the list should be sent to Congress.
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira
Fonte: Giant duck used in campaign again tax rises
