False: It is a fake video indicating that the elected president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) has as government proposals the taxation of the PIX, the freezing of savings and the creation of the new Provisional Contribution on Financial Transactions (CPMF). The content is still misleading when pointing out that the PT government plan proposes the implementation of the Peso Real, a currency unified with other Latin American countries. Lula even defended the idea, but there is no official proposal in the plan released by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
Investigated Content: Video posted by Pastor Silas Malafaia states that the president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has a plan to create a new CPMF tax that will tax all PIX transactions, freeze Brazilian savings, release only R$500 for use by families and create the currency.” Peso Real” together with Argentina and Venezuela. The last measure, according to the video, would share “all Brazilian reserves with the dictator friends” of Lula. In two moments, the video shows the same page of an alleged document used as a basis for making the allegations. The post was made on October 28, still during the electoral campaign.
where it was published: Instagram.
Completion of Proof: It is false that the proposals for a new Provisional Contribution on Financial Transactions (CPMF) with taxation for PIX transactions, freezing of savings with permission to withdraw only R$ 500 and creation of a unified currency with Argentina and Venezuela are documented in the president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
A video posted on the Instagram profile of Pastor Silas Malafaia — a supporter of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) — states that Lula intends to make these economic changes in Brazil. However, none of these proposals is mentioned in the PT government plan, available on the website of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE)or in “Letter to Brazil of Tomorrow”, released by the president-elect, during the campaign period, with proposals for different areas, including economic ones.
The publication reproduces in two moments an image of the same page of the supposed document that would be the basis for the allegations. However, the post does not inform which document it is and Comprova did not find it. The team contacted Silas Malafaia’s advisor in search of the source for the accusations, but there was no response until the date of publication.
Lula’s campaign has already denied that there is a proposal to tax PIX. The report did not find any record of statements made by the PT about the freezing of savings. Despite not having been documented in the government plan, the possibility of creating a single currency in Latin America was already mentioned by Lula, in May of this year. However, the theme was also discussed by Bolsonaro’s Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes.
For Comprova, it is false all content invented or edited to change its original meaning and deliberately released to spread a falsehood.
Scope of publication: Comprova investigates suspicious content with the greatest reach on social networks. As of October 31, Malafaia’s publication has received 27,200 likes and 1,700 comments.
What does the publisher say?: The report tried to contact Silas Malafaia by phone, WhatsApp message and email, but there was no response until the publication of this check.
How do we check: Comprova did a specific search for excerpts from the document cited in the fake video. The supposed text was not found. We also looked for the proposals indicated on Lula’s official website, on the Workers’ Party page, in the president-elect’s government plan and in the “Letter to Brazil of Tomorrow”, released by PT with proposals for different areas.
We are still looking for articles in the press about Lula’s position on the issues raised by the verified video. Finally, we got in touch with Silas Malafaia. The report also sought Lula’s advice, who did not respond.
Indication of the Minister of Economy
The video posted by Malafaia before the election results begins with a questioning about the name of the Minister of Economy who should be appointed by Lula if he is elected. Then, the post brings an edited video in which the president-elect says between stutters “I’m not about to announce”, “I’m not trying to please the suspicious voter” and “I don’t want to lose votes”. The publication suggests that PT was nervous when answering the question because he has among his plans the creation of a new CPMF tax that will tax PIX transactions, freeze savings and create the Peso Real currency.
The original video is from an interview given by Lula to the New Morning programfrom Novabrasil radio, published on the vehicle’s Youtube channel on October 25, 2022. At 14:45, PT begins to answer a question from one of the presenters, who had asked if the announcement of a possible economic team could reassure voters suspicious of the area.
To the question, Lula replies: “Look, I’m not about to announce, I’m not about to try to please the suspicious voter. If I announce the economic team, if I have two economists, I will lose 10, I will lose 15. I don’t want to lose votes. I want to know… People know, I was president and I didn’t appoint a ministry before”.
CPMF
The CPMF is a tax on bank transactions. After initial experiences in the form of a provisional tax, the contribution was instituted in 1996, being collected the following year with the objective of directing the collection to the health area. The CPMF was extended several times, but Congress decided to suspend the tax in 2007. Between the years in which it existed, the contribution collected R$ 223 billion.
Taxation is not mentioned in Lula’s government plan. Regarding taxes, in general, the document only points out that “a new tax regime will be proposed, which has credibility, predictability and sustainability”. In addition, among the proposals, there is the implementation of a tax reform, which will simplify and reduce taxes.
The Letter for the Brazil of Tomorrow, launched by Lula in the final stretch of the elections, also makes no mention of the CPMF. There is only the plan to eliminate the application of income tax for those who earn up to R$ 5 thousand, which will be accompanied by a tax reform.
In an interview with Educadora radio in June this year, Lula mentioned the CPMF when asked about investments in public health: “When I was president, the Senate took R$40 billion that I said I was going to put in the SUS, which belonged to the CPMF and they didn’t create anything in its place. And you know that to take care of the most humble people, to give them the medicine they need, it is necessary to have money”. However, the PT did not express that he will reinstate the taxation.
In August, according to press reports (metropolises and CBN radio), Lula again criticized the end of the contribution. “I just want people who criticize the SUS to remember that everything that is universalized falls in quality if the money is not universalized. I remember when the right in that country decided, at the end of 2006, to end the CPMF and take R$ 40 billion from health care. I had made a commitment that, if the CPMF passed, all the money would go to SUS,” she said. On the occasion, Lula again did not indicate that he would propose a return of the tax if he were elected.
pix
There are no references to PIX in the PT government plan or in the released letter. Last Thursday, October 27, the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, said that Lula would tax the labor charges of informal, self-employed and MEI (individual microentrepreneurs) professionals at PIX. To Power 360Lula’s campaign denied the allegation.
In response to Guedes, the PT campaign commented that “will not do anything against PIX” and classified it as “fake news” statements about an alleged taxation if Lula were elected.
According to a report by The globe, Bolsonaro’s campaign aired an insertion on the radio stating that the PT candidate could freeze the minimum wage and tax the PIX. The proposals were not defended by the PT.
Other checking agencies have already debunked similar claims. to the facts proved to be false that Lula said he would review or end PIX because the tool “only helped the Bolsonaro family”. Rumors.org also indicated that the information that points out that PT, after a meeting with bankers, decided to tax PIX is false.
real weight
Information on the formation of a single currency in Latin America has already been dealt with by both Lula and Guedes, as pointed out in an article by the Estadão. In April of this year, during the PSOL electoral congress, PT said: “We are going to re-establish our relationship with Latin America. And God willing, we will create a currency in Latin America, because there is no such thing as depending on the dollar” (Estadão and CNN).
Despite this, the term “Peso Real” is not mentioned in the official document with the PT candidate’s proposals. The text mentions the term “currency” only in topic 59, when it indicates the objective “to reduce the volatility of the Brazilian currency through exchange rate policy is also a way of mitigating the inflationary impacts of changes in the external scenario”. The matter is also not mentioned in the Letter to Brazil of Tomorrow.
The current Minister of Economy said, in a meeting at the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate, that Mercosur should have a currency integration similar to what happens in European countries (UOL and Value).
“Although each state can have its own fiscal policy, Brazil should imagine a closer approach, with a free trade area”, he suggested. “We could have complete integration and, in this sense, Brazil would assume a role similar to that of Germany in Europe,” said Guedes.
savings
Lula’s program guidelines do not mention the term “savings”. Lula’s Coalition even filed a representation in the TSE asking for the removal of a false publication that claims that Lula will confiscate goods and financial assets if he is elected. The content was denied by Comprova as well.
Other checking agencies also showed similar content to be false (Reuters). Furthermore, to the facts published that Lula did not tweet about blocking savings to maintain Auxilio Brasil.
why do we investigate: Comprova investigates suspicious content that goes viral on social media about presidential elections, public policies of the federal government and the pandemic. The team focuses on publications with wide reach on social networks and can confuse the population. In the context of the elections in Brazil, disinformation content involving the two names that contested for the presidency of the Republic in the second round, Bolsonaro and Lula, circulate on the internet, leading the voter to a distorted perception in relation to the current administration and the next government.
Other checks on the topic: Recently, Comprova showed that the Lula’s government plan does not allow abortion and drugs, unlike what a pamphlet published on social networks lists; what Barroso’s 2021 video is edited to say he is against PT; what Posts confuse PT’s National Human Rights Meeting document with Lula’s government plan; is that Bolsonaro did not say he will end up with 13th and overtime, contrary to what the video claims.
Investigated by: Metrópoles and O Popular; Verified by: Estado de S.Paulo, Alma Preta, Uol, NSC, GaúchaZH and A Gazeta
Source: CNN Brasil
