TAX DEBT
When tax debt becomes a (criminal) business strategy
For nearly a decade, lawmakers repeatedly blocked proposals to address chronic tax delinquency. But in early September, the Senate unanimously approved a bill drafted by tax law specialists. Photo: Lula Marques/EBC
In late August, a sweeping operation by federal and state law enforcement in Brazil zeroed in on an expansive money-laundering and tax-evasion network linked to the Primeiro Comando da Capital (First Command of the Capital, or PCC), the country’s most powerful criminal organization.
The investigation exposed the depth of the PCC’s ties to Brazil’s financial system — including firms operating on Faria Lima Avenue, São Paulo’s answer to Wall Street. It also laid bare the regulatory loopholes that allow criminal groups to maintain footholds in the formal economy, sparking public outrage that lawmakers quickly sought to channel into a reform of tax rules.
One issue in particular, long overlooked by Congress, gained sudden legislative impulse: punishing…
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