Brazil’s Lula pledges new minimum wage policy, expanded tax exemption

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pledged on Sunday to introduce a new policy of real increases in the minimum wage and announced plans to
raise the income tax exemption for lower-income earners.
The remarks, made during a radio and TV broadcast for Labor Day, which is a national holiday on Monday, reinforce leftist Lula’s strategy of boosting workers’ disposable income to help spur economic growth.
Lula said the government would present a bill to Congress to make the annual minimum wage adjustment above inflation a permanent rule.
He also said that the income tax exemption would increase gradually through the end of his term in 2026 for workers earning up to 5,000 reais ($1,003) a month, fulfilling one of his campaign promises.
Currently, workers who earn up to 1,903.98 reais per month do not pay income tax, which has not been updated since 2015, effectively increasing the tax burden on Brazilians with lower wages.