RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Michel Temer denied Tuesday he wanted to propose a raise of the income tax.
The presidency's Communication Secretariat released a statement on Tuesday evening denying the information amid some uproar about such rumors earlier in the day.
Temer mentioned at an earlier event in Sao Paulo that studies are underway concerning the possibility of a raise in the country's income tax as a means to raise tax collection and help the government achieve the fiscal target set for 2017.
"There are studies on several matters, but nothing has been decided," the statement said.
"We clarify that those studies are primarily focused on cutting expenses, in an obstinate attempt to avoid a raise in the tax burden in Brazil. The government will keep on working with this focus," the Secretariat said.
The statement has led to a rare situation where both left- and right-wing organizations agreed.
The Unified Central of Workers (CUT), the largest union in Brazil, said that an income tax raise would be "an act of despair of an incompetent, directionless government."
CUT said the president should consider making corrections in the income tax according to the inflation rate. With a raise in the minimum wage, more people have been paying income tax when they should have been exempted.
