How much does a congressman cost the Brazilian taxpayer?

Mar 28, 2018 11:28 4 min read (Updated: Mar 29, 2018 2:08)

congressman taxpayer cost — Congress cost the taxpayer billions every year. Photo: AGPT

Winning a congressional election in Brazil seems to be a golden ticket into a world of privilege. Among the perks of being a Brazilian congressman, we can include: housing aid; stipends for suits (yes, that’s a real thing); private cars; plane tickets; political office (besides the one in the House); and advertising money. All of that is on the taxpayer’s dime.

Oh, and let’s not forget the monthly salary of 33,763 BRL – roughly 30 times as much as the average per capita income in Brazil.

On average, a single congressman costs 179,000 BRL every month, amounting to 2.1 million BRL a year. Considering that we have 513 congressmen, the numbers explode to over 1.1 billion BRL per year.