Federal tax revenue in 2012 exceeds R$ 1 trillion.
This is the first time in history that federal tax revenue in a single year has exceeded the R$1 trillion mark, but the inflow of resources fell short of the government's expectations.
Wellton Maximo
Reporter from Agência Brasil
Brasilia – For the first time in history, federal tax revenue in a single year surpassed the R$ 1 trillion mark. According to figures recently released by the Federal Revenue Service, the Union's revenues totaled R$ 1,029 trillion last year. Despite this result, the inflow of resources fell short of the government's expectations.
In nominal terms, revenue increased by 6,12% compared to 2011. However, discounting official inflation as measured by the Broad National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), the increase was 0,7%, below the 1% real growth projection released by the Federal Revenue Service.
In December, the tax authorities collected R$ 103,246 billion, a real increase of 0,96% compared to the same month in 2011 and the second-best result for the month, only surpassed by December 2010, when revenue totaled R$ 105,1 billion in values adjusted for inflation (IPCA).
According to the tax authorities, the economic crisis and the tax breaks promoted by the government contributed to the low growth in revenue last year. Although sales of goods and services increased by 8% last year and the wage bill rose by about 13%, the 2,53% drop in industrial production influenced the result. This is because the weight of industry in revenue is greater than that of other sectors of the economy.
Due to the behavior of the labor market, which continued hiring workers with formal employment contracts in 2012, contributions to Social Security were the taxes that contributed most to the growth in revenue last year. In 2012, social security revenues increased by R$ 16,5 billion, with a variation of 5,63% above the IPCA (Brazilian inflation index).
The second largest group of taxes contributing to federal revenue last year was comprised of the Social Integration Program (PIS) and the Contribution for Social Security Financing (Cofins). Revenue from these two contributions increased by R$ 10,1 billion last year, a real growth of 4,68%. Because they are levied on revenue, PIS and Cofins reflect sales performance. Next are taxes linked to imports, whose revenue increased by R$ 4,6 billion last year.
Due to the weak performance of the industry, the collection of the Tax on Industrialized Products (IPI) on national products fell by R$ 5,1 billion last year, 14,29% less than in 2012, discounting inflation using the IPCA index. The drop was also influenced by the tax breaks announced last year to stimulate the economy. According to the Internal Revenue Service, the government failed to collect R$ 46,440 billion due to tax reductions in 2012.
The low growth in revenue is also due to the drop in company profitability last year. Revenue from Corporate Income Tax and the Social Contribution on Net Profit fell by R$ 4,727 billion in 2012, a negative variation of 2,68%. The reduction to zero of the Contribution for Intervention in the Economic Domain (Cide) also contributed. In June of last year, the tax was zeroed to prevent the increase in gasoline and diesel prices at refineries from reaching consumers, resulting in a real drop of 70,5% in revenue from the fuel tax.