City councilman says city collects a lot of revenue and spends it poorly.
A study by Elias Vaz (PSB) indicates that property tax (IPTU) in Goiânia is more expensive than in municipalities such as Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Recife, and Fortaleza, among others, and that the city is the capital that invests the least in the country, with a volume in 2013 corresponding to only 29% of the IPTU collected; Manaus invested 354%; another striking piece of data concerns the payroll, whose annual cost in Goiânia corresponds to 2.370% of the IPTU collection, compared to 406% in the Amazonian capital; the average IPTU in Goiânia is R$ 205 and in Manaus, R$ 50; “Raising the tax is pointless. The problem is the misuse of public funds,” emphasizes Elias.
247 - A study conducted by councilman Elias Vaz (PSB) reveals that the city of Goiânia has been collecting an equal or even higher volume of property tax per capita than other cities of the same size. Proportionally, each resident paid R$205 in tax last year, almost the same as in Curitiba (R$201) and Porto Alegre (R$204), but higher than six other capital cities surveyed.
In 2013, property tax (IPTU) cost R$166 per inhabitant in Recife, R$83 in Fortaleza, R$80 in Natal, R$50 in Manaus, R$45 in Belém, and R$42 in São Luís. “These examples invalidate the argument that Goiânia's financial crisis is a result, among other factors, of problems in tax collection. The city hall has stated that the Municipal Property Valuation Schedule is outdated, but the problem is different; it's a management issue,” emphasizes Elias Vaz.
Investments
Another aspect evaluated in the research is the relationship between revenue and investment volume. The city of Goiânia has been investing up to 10 times less in improvements than the other cities evaluated. The comparison with Manaus is striking. While the revenue of the capital of Goiás last year from property tax collection was R$286.291.871, that of the capital of Amazonas was R$99.528.533.
On the other hand, the total volume of investments made throughout the year in Goiânia was only R$82.877.982, which corresponds to 29% of the amount collected from the Urban Property Tax, while in Manaus this amount reached R$352.232.797, that is, 354% more than the amount received from IPTU. "This is just one example of a city with about 600 more inhabitants than Goiânia, which has lower taxes and yet makes more investments than our capital," emphasizes the councilman.
Of all the capital cities surveyed, Goiânia has the lowest investment rate. Curitiba invested significantly more than the total amount collected in property tax (IPTU), at 127%. Porto Alegre registered 128%. The volume was 182% in Fortaleza, 207% in Recife, 262% in Natal, 272% in São Luís, and 283% in Belém.
Personnel expenses
The figures, available in the Accounting Data Collection System of Caixa Econômica Federal (hereThey also point to the bloated administrative structure. Last year, the city of Goiânia spent R$ 1.964.526.397 on personnel.
Elias pointed out that the annual cost of the payroll corresponds to 2370% of the revenue from property tax, far exceeding Porto Alegre (564%), Curitiba (482%), Belém (556%), Manaus (406%) and Recife (281%), to cite a few examples.
“All these numbers are a portrait of the current administration in Goiânia. And they demonstrate that raising taxes is pointless. The problem is the misuse of public funds. Personnel expenses are exorbitant, exceeding the average of other capital cities. And the city hall wants to penalize the taxpayer instead of cutting expenses and actually implementing an administrative reform that works. If it were a company, it would be on the verge of bankruptcy – or would already be bankrupt – because it doesn't make the necessary investments and spends money inappropriately,” says Elias Vaz.