Author: Ives Gandra da Silva Martins

Source: Correio Popular, 21/06/2009

The Brazilian tax burden is admittedly high. Compared to the overwhelming majority of emerging countries, it is well above the average and at the same level as developed countries, despite the fact that national public services are of poor quality (health, education, transport, basic sanitation, etc.).

On the other hand, the government's disincentive to the private sector - which it does for the country, in social assistance, health and education, which the Federation's governments do not do - is alarming. Although the supreme law offers immunity to non-profit institutions that operate in these sectors (art. 150, inc. VI, letter “c”), the favorite sport of the farm authorities is to deny them their constitutional right, working against them cyclophic infraction notices, which may, if the Judiciary does not shorten such procedures, result in the closure of such institutions.

According to the vice president of the National Confederation of Educational Institutions - Confenen, 6 educational establishments, including traditional institutions, were closed, mainly during the Lula government. Brazil, on the other hand, remains in 1st place in the ranking of useless bureaucracy requirements, with the Brazilian entrepreneur who loses the most time to fill them, when he intends to start an enterprise or continue it.

It is not without reason that the “super simple” - one of the most complex tax collection systems - has been the main reason why most companies that are formed in the country resist a few years.

The judicial measures themselves for the State to return what does not belong to it are an ordeal, given the successive manifestations of the National Treasury Attorney to delay payments and judicial compliance, with the clearly delaying procedures adopted by it. Many believe that magistrates do so out of fear that by releasing what belongs to them to taxpayers, they may be accused of acting for interests other than to do justice.

It is true that, when the taxpayer deposits sums in court to discuss his rights, these resources, in 24 hours, are transformed into government revenue, even when it is a mere deposit to guarantee execution.

In this context, which transforms Brazil into the “Republic of Bureaucracy”, the number of civil servants increases in a fantastic way, remembering that Fernando Henrique's entire effort to reduce the number of employees from 661.100 in 1995 to 598.500 in 2002 , was canceled by the Lula government, which raised them to 670.800. In addition, he increased his wages by 73% above inflation, while the private sector worker saw an increase of only 8% in the same period, according to credible sources.

In other words, although the quality of public service has not improved and bureaucratic requirements have become more complex, the federal government's staff has expanded, to the point that the Planalto Palace has more than 3.400 civil servants, while President Obama, at the White House, has only 1.800.

Adding the subsidies and all the benefits that the power grants itself - as demonstrated by the scandal of airline tickets, unleashed by the press -, it is clear that the country is no longer evolving, due to the bureaucratic lock institutionalized by the government of the little more than 1 million active and inactive employees of the Union will receive almost R $ 160 billion in earnings in 2009. The more than 11 million beneficiaries of Bolsa Família will receive just over R $ 10 billion, that is, 15 times less.

Now, the citizens of the 2nd category of this country, that is, the “non-governmental” citizens, who constitute the manifest majority of the Nation, are the ones who have to bear an almost confiscatory tax burden, to sustain the very sclerotic official machine, which feeds on tributes. Tax revenue should be used primarily for the provision of public services, but is consumed behind the scenes of all official administration bodies.

I am more and more convinced that the Brazilian citizen - for the public power only a number of CPF - is an authentic slave of the land of today, destined to support, with his work and taxes, those who control the government. In addition, the category of those entering public service grows considerably every day, not through the difficult door of the public tender, but only because they are friends of the king, swelling an increasingly inefficient machine, even unable to make the PAC work, which remains inoperative and below the proposed target, despite budgetary resources.

The governmental justification that the number of public servants in our country is not high, when compared to the one existing in Germany, practically the same, in Ireland and France, much higher, is not consistent with the quality of public services that are provided in these countries, very above that of Brazil. However, it is worth remembering that France today is one of the most stagnant countries in Europe, due to the dominant “bureaucracy”, which discourages savings, investments and growth.

I believe that the Gordian knot of Brazilian development resides in how the future government, whatever it may be, will solve this problem, since the exit from the world economic crisis will demand an ever greater business competitiveness.

I consider it very difficult for Brazil to obtain it, in international trade, - we have just over 1% of it -, while the bureaucratic structure serves as a brake on its evolution.

Either Brazil reduces its bureaucracy or the bureaucracy will reduce national growth and our taxes will be almost entirely destined only to sustain it.

Ives Gandra da Silva Martins is a doctor of law, professor emeritus at Mackenzie University