The worst thing about Brazilians taxes—which are the heaviest of any country in the hemisphere—is not the amount of tax paid or how government often misuses them, but rather that Brazilians don’t even know how much tax they pay in the first place. This past week, the Folha de Sao Paulo reported that the average Read more about Tax Transparency and a Fairer Brazil[…]

A surprising turn of events threatens to de-rail President Dilma Rousseff’s bid for greater governmental openness and transparency in Brazil. Brazil was on track to pass its long awaited freedom of information (FOI) law on May 3rd, World Press Day—  a deadline set by Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff just after President Barack Obama’s mid-March visit. Read more about Impeached Ex-President Pockets Brazilian Freedom of Information Law[…]

How are inequality and poverty best addressed? Successive governments have focused on conditional cash transfers, such as Bolsa Escola and Bolsa Familia, in which money goes to parents in return for keeping their children at school, among other conditions. These programs have diminished absolute poverty and helped ensure that future generation will gain the basic Read more about More Census Results for Brazil– Inequality and Poverty[…]

The 2010 Brazilian Census came out about a week ago, and it reveals some startling numbers. Illiteracy Almost 10 percent of Brazilians remain illiterate, despite the rate falling from 13.6 percent in 2000. Although this is a remarkable drop in historical terms, authorities view the reality to be much brighter for youth; the  illiterate segment Read more about Census 2010: By the Numbers[…]

Today the Jornal Globo newspaper reported that 40 percent of Governors have their mandate threatened by legal proceedings against them. Most of these suits allege vote-buying or manipulation of the media during 2010 elections. Eight out of ten cases were initiated by political rivals, and two out of ten by the federal government. Oddly, no Read more about How the Media Fragments Brazil[…]