Lula and Bolsonaro go all out… and the man on the street?

Brazil enters the home stretch of its presidential runoff with a question that deserves more attention than the insults traded in the recent debate between the candidates: who will keep the electoral promises once the campaign is over?

On October 25, Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the discredited former president and coup plotter Jair Bolsonaro, will contest the presidency of the country. Their debate on Sunday was marked by personal attacks and accusations of corruption. A great deal of verbal exchange and abuse, before an electorate that needs answers about its everyday life.

Amid the electoral media show, a less spectacular issue than the debate has emerged, but a far more concrete one: taxes on airfares.

Lula defends the tax reform, and Bolsonaro promises to revise it. Meanwhile, tax burdens of 16.1% are projected for domestic flight tickets and 13.3% for international ones.

This tax reform could be understood as a measure that affects those privileged enough to travel by air. However, “rich passengers” who see their expenses rise will demand pay raises if they are employees, or will seek to increase their profits if they are business owners. In the long run, this will also affect the poor who travel by bus (or who cannot even afford to get around), since it will directly or indirectly push up the prices of consumer goods.

Lula has a clear political obligation related to inclusion and social rights, so he should explain how the costs of the tax reform will be distributed among the population and what protection households with fewer resources will have.

As for Flávio Bolsonaro, promising cuts in public spending alongside lower taxes is not enough. Perhaps the time has come to review and harmonize taxes and direct them to the benefit of the majority.