Brazil's tax burden hits record high

Brazil's tax burden reached a record high of 35.85 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012, the Federal Revenue Secretariat said on Friday. Tax collected in 2012 amounted to 1.57 trillion reals (656.9 billion U.S. dollars), while the total GDP of that year was 4.39 trillion reals (1.83 trillion U.S. dollars), the secretariat said. It was the third consecutive rise in the tax burden in Brazil. According to the secretariat, the tax burden was 35.31 percent of GDP in 2011, also a record figure at that time. The rising tax burden was attributed to an expansion of employment and income. Brazil's unemployment rate fell to a record low of 4.6 percent in November.@ The secretariat said that the tax burden rose despite tax cuts last year. The Brazilian Institute of Tax Planning (IBPT) said the country's tax burden would grow to over 36 percent this year. Brazil's tax burden is among the highest in the world, surpassing countries such as the United States, Canada and South Korea.