Brazil July tax revenues jump from year ago

BRASILIA: Brazil's tax collection jumped in July from the year-earlier month, helped by a one-time collection of overdue payments now cleared by the courts, the federal tax authority said on Thursday.

A rise in aggregate wages and robust consumer spending have helped drive a strong rise in tax revenues this year, improving the government's fiscal position after a significant deterioration last year.

Tax revenue in July, adjusted for inflation, rose 8.92 percent from July 2010 to 90.247 billion reais ($56.2 billion). In the first seven months of the year, the government has collected 562.391 billion reais in taxes.

The country missed its main budget target in 2010, with a consolidated primary surplus of 2.78 percent of gross domestic product in the 12 months through December, well below the goal of 3.1 percent of GDP for the year.

Expansion in Latin America's largest economy is expected to slow this year to about 3 percent, a sharper decrease than many had expected, as debt crises in the United States and Europe were expected to drag on global growth.

Copyright Reuters, 2011