About ten years ago, Sinprofaz (National Union of National Treasury Attorneys) created the “Sonegômetro” to show the estimate of how much the country fails to collect in taxes due to tax evasion. The indicator is similar to what the Associação Comercial de São Paulo devised to expose the estimated evolution of tax collection in the country, an initiative called “Impostômetro”.

According to Sinprofaz, in October this year the estimate of tax evasion hit R $ 400 billion, and should exceed R $ 500 billion by the end of the year. For comparison, it is worth mentioning that the value is equivalent to almost one GDP of the city of São Paulo over the course of a year. In 2013, the entity calculates the total amount of taxes withheld at R $ 407 billion, equivalent in that year to 8,4% of Brazilian GDP or 22,9% of the collection of R $ 1,8 trillion. The most evaded taxes in the union survey are the ICMS, the Income Tax and the INSS.

(Source: The people online | 19/11)

To read the full story, click here