A survey on social inequality carried out by Oxfam revealed that the richest 5% hold the same share of income as the remaining 95% of the Brazilian population.
The increase in inequality is a global trend, and Brazil has followed this trend. The economy is still very good for those who already have a lot and terrible for those who have little.
Jorge Paulo Lemann (AB Inbev), Joseph Safra (Banco Safra), Marcel Hermmann Telles (AB Inbev), Carlos Alberto Sicupira (AB Inbev), Eduardo Saverin (Facebook) and Ermirio Pereira de Moraes (Grupo Votorantim) are the six most people of Brazil. Together, they concentrate the same wealth as the poorest 100 million in the country, that is, half the Brazilian population (207.7 million).
France and Spain, for example, have more taxes than Brazil. But Brazil’s taxation is focused on the poorest and the middle class. A review of the income tax, end tax havens and collecting tax on dividends would benefit the poor more.
Even with the economic crisis in Brazil, the wealth of these billionaires grew. This shows that the crisis does not affect those who are at the top. In return, those at the base of the pyramid are affected by the measures being taken to face the crisis. Reducing public spending, for example, does more harm to the poorest population, who depend more on public services such as health and education.
Origins of the wealth in Brazil
Three studies, two Brazilians and one international, show that Brazil is the country with the highest concentration of income in the world and that the rich became even richer during the military dictatorship.
According to the survey, two thirds of fortunes are linked to inheritance, monopoly and so-called crony capitalism. In the next 20 years, the expectation is that the 500 richest people in Brazil will leave $2 trillion in inheritance to their families.
A tax reform would be needed, in which the wealthy pay more taxes and fees than the working class. Only then will Brazil become less unequal
In Brazil, capital and labor receive unequal treatment, since the worker with the highest tax burden bears the formal contract.
Wealth map shows Brazil’s social abyss
Unpublished work maps the financial wealth and sheds even more light on the country’s deep inequalities.
With the middle class in constant decline, 120 thousand people maintain average investments of R$ 10 million per capita.
In 2017, seven municipalities accounted for 24.4% of Brazil’s GDP and 13.6% of the population: São Paulo (SP) with 10.6%, Rio de Janeiro (RJ) with 5.1%, Brasília (DF) with 3.7%, Belo Horizonte (MG) with 1.4%, Curitiba (PR) with 1.3%, Osasco (SP) with 1.2% and Porto Alegre (RS) with 1.1%. Economic activity in Greater São Paulo, bringing together 92 adjacent municipalities with strong interaction, generated the equivalent of ¼ of the country’s GDP.
