Bolsonaro fires back at Lula's new tax increase: “Fewer cows, more milk”

Former president Jair Bolsonaro criticized, this Saturday (24), the federal government's decision to increase the rates of the Tax on Financial Operations (IOF) on credit, exchange and remittances abroad.

As shown by Gazeta do Povo , the tax increase not only harms citizens directly, but represents an additional obstacle for Brazilian companies , which are already navigating in turbulent waters. The Lula government expects to raise R$20 billion with the increase .

“In a scenario of economic fragility, the government chooses to make life even more difficult for entrepreneurs. I call this policy “Fewer Cows and More Milk” – an absurd attempt to collect more revenue, penalizing those who produce and create jobs,” Bolsonaro said in a statement.

“It seems that the government really believes that by suffocating entrepreneurs it will be able to increase revenue. A complete contradiction! Our Decree 10,997, from March 2022, gradually aimed to eliminate the IOF exchange rate in 2028”, he continued.

The former president also said that the leaders of the Liberal Party (PL) are evaluating new legal measures to block the tax increase, classified by Bolsonaro as an “attack by the Lula government on free initiative and the competitiveness of Brazilian companies”.

On Friday (23), the leader of the opposition in the Senate, Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), presented a Legislative Decree Project (PDL) to block the effects of the two decrees of the Lula government published throughout this week that increased the IOF. “The PT broke the country and now punishes the people with tax increases. The increase in the IOF means more inflation, less Brazil. It is populism that crushes those who need it most. We presented the PDL to stop this abuse against the population”, said Marinho.