Tebet aims to delink Social Security from the minimum wage and is criticized by Gleisi

Measures such as the unlinking between Social Security and the minimum wage and the inclusion of the Basic Education Maintenance and Development Fund (Fundeb) in the education spending floor have definitely entered the radar of the Minister of Planning and Budget, Simone Tebet (MDB)), to control public spending.

According to information from the newspaper Economic valuethe minister has used two expressions to illustrate measures that she believes are necessary to cut budgetary expenses: “It is no longer possible to work in retail” and it is necessary to “put your finger on the wound” of public spending.

Among the main proposals discussed within the scope of the Public Policy Assessment Secretariat, established at the beginning of the president’s government Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and led by economist and Insper professor Sergio Firpo, is the decoupling of Social Security benefits from the policy of increasing the minimum wage.

The policy guarantees the correction of the minimum value by the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the previous 2 years and the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) of the year preceding the determination of the salary value.

For Tebet, the country will hardly be able to extend, indefinitely, this valorization policy to social security benefits, unemployment insurance, the Continuous Payment Benefit (BPC) and the salary bonus. “We will have to do this through conviction or through pain”, says the minister.

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The Ministry of Planning has also carried out simulations for a possible incorporation of the Fund for Maintenance and Development of Basic Education and Valorization of Education Professionals (Fundeb) into the constitutional floor of education. The government is obliged to spend 18% of net tax revenue on the area. According to the ministry, the measure could have an impact of around R$40 billion over a period of 3 to 4 years.

Another item that is being debated by the ministry is the waiver of revenue from Simples Nacional and the Individual Microentrepreneur program (MEI), as well as the horizontal exemption from payroll.

Gleisi criticizes

The proposals presented by Simone Tebet were promptly contested by the national president of the PT, Gleisi Hoffmann. In a message published on her social networks, on Monday (6), the federal deputy classified the possible measures studied by Tebet as “worrying”.

“Unlinking Social Security from the minimum wage and including Fundeb in the education floor account are very bad ideas, which contradict the government program elected in 2022”, wrote Gleisi.

“If adopted, they would directly harm millions of retirees and public school students, the population that needs to be protected by state action, actions guaranteed in our Constitution. It is, to say the least, worrying that they are defended by Minister Simone Tebet. Fiscal responsibility has nothing to do with social injustice”, added the PT president.