The vote on the 2026 Budget represents the outcome of a duel between the National Congress and the federal government over the allocation of public resources. According to Idiana Tomazelli, special reporter for Folha de São Paulo, during her participation in the WWthe current budget scenario reveals a clear competition between the two powers.
“What I see happening is a duel in the budget to see who could hang the most expenses that would benefit their side”, says the journalist.
highlights conflicting interests in a strategic year for parliamentarians and the Executive. The conflict became more evident with the inclusion of a revenue considered dubious in the budget report. R$14 billion were added from import taxes, an amount that, according to Tomazelli, does not yet have a concrete basis.
“For now, there is nothing tangible. It is a letter of intent. The government itself has not yet said where this will come from”, he explains.
Negotiations and concessions
A recent episode of this conflict occurred with the approval of a bill that promotes cuts in tax benefits and increases fintechs. According to the reporter, Congress, which was initially opposed to tax increases, relaxed its position in the face of the threat of containing parliamentary amendments in 2026.
“Congress, which spent the entire year very refractory to tax increases, made this view more flexible given the message that the amendments could suffer some type of impact”, highlights Tomazelli.
To guarantee more resources for parliamentary amendments, Congress promoted a series of cuts in social programs and benefits. “Congressmen promoted cuts not only in benefits such as Auxílio Gás or , but they also cut benefits in Social Security that are mandatory”, he explains.
According to the reporter, these cuts in mandatory social security benefits will certainly have to be restored later, which indicates that new chapters of this duel are yet to be seen.
