Brazil's ag minister opposes proposal to tax farm exports

BRASILIA: Brazil's Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said on Thursday before the Senate's Agriculture Committee that he would oppose a government proposal to tax farm exports as a way to cover a growing deficit in the country's social security program.

The president's Chief of Staff Eliseu Padilha told the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper published on Thursday the tax was part of a proposal to reform Brazil's social security program.