Over 7,000 Brazilian politicians in debt to federal government

Records of overdue federal tax debt show that 7,186 elected Brazilian politicians elected—across all spheres (federal, district, state and municipal)—jointly owe more than BRL 1.1 billion to the public treasury.

This analysis of information on elected politicians, individual taxpayer IDs, and federal tax liabilities was only made possible by publication of data from the General Counsel for the Federal Treasury (PGFN) for the first time in an open format in November 2019. Previously, only a limited volume of records could be consulted simultaneously. With the opening up of this data, broad and comprehensive cross-referencing was made possible.

News of these debts held by politicians is significant, as these are the elected officials who set legislation on debt repayment and austerity measures, meaning they could be seen as interested parties in the forgiveness of debts owed to the federal government.

The list of overdue federal tax liabilities includes debts of any amount to the government, be it taxes, fees or fines. If these debts are not paid, federal agencies request they be included on the list of overdue liabilities. According to PGFN data, there...