Brazil’s monthly tax revenues fall to six-year low

Brasilia, Aug 20 (IANS) Brazil's monthly tax revenues totalled 107.416 billion reais ($33.36 billion) in July, a 5.8 per cent decline from a year earlier and a record low since 2010, the Federal Tax Administration has said.

From January to July this year, the tax revenues totalled 724.673 billion reais ($225.05 billion), 7.1 percent less than in the same period last year and a six-year low of its kind, it said on Friday.

The tax authorities listed reduced industrial production and sales of goods among major factors behind the decline in federal income this year, Xinhua news agency reported.

The situation may damage the government effort to reach its fiscal target to contain a deficit at 170.5 billion reais ($52.95 billion) in 2016, leaving it with the options of further spending cuts through the rest of the year and possible tax hikes.