Analysis indicates that children from wealthier classes inherit not only material goods, but also cultural goods and a network of contacts that make them more likely to be successful
What are the causes of persistent economic inequality in Brazil? Why does inequality remain stable over the years, despite public policies that aim to promote income redistribution, such as Bolsa Família? The causes are complex and varied, according to Thiago Caldeira, organizer of the publication Agenda Brasileira: Inequality Econômica, published by Edições Câmara.
In this publication, the authors analyze, in 10 articles, the role of public policies, established in laws, regulations and social programs, in income distribution.
According to Thiago Caldeira, a persistent factor in the maintenance of social inequalities is the so-called stocks of social and human capital of different social classes. This means that children from wealthier classes inherit not only material goods, but also cultural goods and an entire network of contacts that make them more likely to be successful than children from the poorest part of the population.
The legislative consultants from the Chamber of Deputies who produced the study on economic inequality analyze aspects such as tax and social security reforms, housing policies, subsidies in the electricity sector and unequal opportunities between men and women in the job market.
Income redistribution
They conclude that current regulations do produce income redistribution, but not always in the sense of promoting more social justice. On the contrary, in most of the cases analyzed, the transfer of income occurs from the poorest to the richest.
“There are some policies that come with the intention of promoting economic growth, but, with a view to providing transparency and society carrying out a detailed analysis of that, they will realize that some of these policies generate bad results in terms of economic inequality”says Caldeira.
Class segregation
One of the factors that perpetuate inequalities in access to cultural and human assets are urban policies that promote segregation between social classes.
According to the authors, the proximity between different classes would allow not only the absorption of references and behaviors that would add to the human capital of the poor, but also the formation of friendship networks that would contribute to their trajectory in the job market.
Contrary to this, urban zoning policies make it difficult to expand the most valued areas and displace the poorest to increasingly distant regions. This leads the authors to state that zoning is the “most successful segregation mechanism ever invented”.
Pension
Another example of income transfer from the poorest to the richest cited in the work are social security rules. One of the aspects highlighted by the study is the case of individual micro-entrepreneurs in the General Social Security Regime.
While other workers contribute at rates ranging from 7.5% to 14% of income, depending on their remuneration, micro-entrepreneurs pay a fixed rate of 5% on the value of a minimum wage.
The annual gross revenue limit to be considered MEI is R$81,000, which is equivalent to a monthly turnover of R$6,750. As a result, according to the authors, in 2023, only 18.4% of taxpayers registered as MEI were among the poorest 50% of the population. Thus, the remaining 81.6% were among the richest 50%.
This situation causes workers with lower incomes to contribute to paying social security benefits for individual microentrepreneurs, even if they have much higher incomes.
Cashback
In the opposite direction, of transfer from rich to poor, consultants cite tax reform, mainly with the adoption of the so-called cashbackand some educational policies, such as Fundeb (Fund for the Maintenance and Development of Basic Education and Valorization of Education Professionals).
O cashback It is a mechanism for the return of taxes paid on essential products by the poorest part of the population. The authors claim that the mechanism will benefit 71 million people.
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