The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, denied false information about the taxation of pets and the creation of a tax on Pix. In a video posted on social media on Thursday night (9), the minister refuted lies that have been circulating on the internet in recent days about the creation or increase of taxes.
“Tax on Pix, lie. Tax on those who buy dollars, a lie. Tax on those who have a pet, lie. Guys, let’s pay attention, there’s a fake news. It harms public debate, it harms politics, it harms democracy”, said the minister in the 1min5s video.
The publication of Haddad’s video occurred hours after the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) sent an extrajudicial notification to Facebook to remove, within 24 hours, a video deepfake (artificial video with the face and voice of third parties) with a statement created by artificial intelligence (AI) in which the minister said he was in favor of the creation of the “pet dog tax”.
“The post, manipulated using artificial intelligence, contains fraudulent information and attributes to the minister non-existent statements about the creation of a tax on pets and prenatal care”, highlighted the AGU notification.
“The analysis of the material highlights the falsity of the information through sudden cuts, noticeable changes in lip movement and discrepancies in voice timbre, typical of content forged with the use of generative artificial intelligence”, added the document.
If Facebook does not remove the video, the AGU asked that the content receive a label stating that it was created using artificial intelligence. The video also circulated on the X network (formerly Twitter). This week, Meta, the company that owns Instagram and Facebook, announced that it will eliminate the fact-checking program from its platforms.
“These things are lies and sometimes they mix it with something that is true to confuse public opinion”, criticized Haddad in the video.
The only real news that circulated on the networks in recent days, highlighted the minister, was the taxation of betsvirtual sports betting houses, and electronic casinos, which came into force in January with the regulation of online betting. “These are betting houses that make a lot of money. These betting houses will have to pay taxes like any other company established in Brazil. Other than that, it’s all fake,” he said.
Tax on Pix
Haddad also commented on the lie about creating a tax on Pix. The video showed messages related to the topic on social media with the stamp “false” and journalistic articles with the denial by the Federal Revenue with the “fact” stamp.
On January 1st, the new Federal Revenue rules for the supervision of financial transfers. The main change was the extension of monitoring of financial transactions to Pix transfers, which total at least R$5,000 per month for individuals and R$15,000 for legal entities.
However, a wave of fake news on social media caused misinformation, indicating that the reinforcement of supervision, which is already carried out on commercial banks and credit unions, would mean the taxation of Pix. The IRS, in fact, extended the monitoring of Pix transfers to fintechs (digital banks) and payment institutions (which provide virtual wallets) and updated the inspection system for credit card transactions.
The Tax Authorities clarified that the new standard does not mean an increase in taxation and only intends to improve risk management for tax administration.
“Fake news It harms democracy and brings a series of insecurities to people. So stay tuned, leave the lies aside”, concluded the minister in the video.
