The video features a skit set around a bar table. In it, one character questions why they pay more taxes than those who consume lobster, champagne, and caviar.
The message is that, just like at the ‘Boteco do Brasa’ (small bar), Brazil doesn’t split the tax bill fairly.
The campaign advocates for the “BBB Taxation” – Billionaires, Banks, and ‘Bets’. According to the video, “taxes are necessary, but so is justice.” The piece suggests that the “new income tax” proposed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government corrects a “historic injustice.”
The president’s government has faced resistance in Congress regarding the taxation of the wealthy. The proposal is expected to be reviewed by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate in the second half of the year.
The video is circulating on social media with visuals that appear to have been generated by AI (artificial intelligence).
Here is the full transcript of the dialogue in the ad:
“Hey buddy, hold on—you're having champagne, caviar, lobster, and you're gonna pay less than us who only had some beer and pork rinds?”
“Relax, this is Boteco do Brasa, man, it’s always been like this.”
“It’s always been that way, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Let’s split the bill the right way.”
“Now imagine this table is a country that pays its bills with contributions from everyone.”
“But where the super-rich pay proportionally way less than the vast majority. That’s how Brazil has been up until now, but the Lula government wants to make a historic change to that injustice with the new income tax. Because taxes are necessary, but so is justice.”
“It’s about taxing the super-rich and betting platforms, which make a lot of money and pay little or almost no tax.”
“BBB Taxation: Billionaires, Banks, and Bets. The new income tax is historic justice – true justice.”
The video is part of the federal government’s campaign to exempt people earning up to R$5,000 (US$915) per month from income tax, and to reduce the rate for those earning between R$5,000 and R$7,000 (US$1,280).
Under the banner of tax justice, the ad defends taxing the wealthiest to offset the revenue loss from the exemptions and to balance public accounts. In the video, the reform is called “BBB Taxation.”
But instead of referring to the popular Globo TV reality show “Big Brother Brasil,” the acronym stands for “Billionaires, Banks, and Bets” – who, according to the ad’s narration, “pay nothing or almost nothing in income tax” and “will start paying more.”
Last Friday (June 27), the party released a new online campaign video intensifying the narrative of a confrontation between the rich and the poor. It’s a theme favored by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva: the poor pay a lot of taxes, the rich pay almost none.
The rhetoric recalls 19th and 20th-century speeches in which the working class is portrayed as morally superior and guided by a State that promises to correct structural inequalities. In this case, the State and the left-wing government are the beacon lighting the way: “The Lula government wants to turn the tables with the new income tax. Make the super-rich and betting sites pay more.”
Lula, Sidônio Palmeira (head of the Secretariat of Communications – Secom), the Workers’ Party (PT), and the broader left believe that the best strategy to win the 2026 elections is to deepen the divide in society by promoting a poor-vs-rich confrontation.
Some political strategists believe this could be a flawed approach. On Sunday (June 29, 2025), the UPB federation, formed by the União Brasil and Progressistas parties, released a video in the same AI style to counter the Workers’ Party campaign.
The opposition piece criticizes the size of the government, rising public expenses, and deficit-ridden state-owned enterprises, stating that “in the end, it’s the poorest who pay.” The opposition’s narrative claims that “even the intelligence in the ads is artificial,” directly attacking the PT’s use of AI-generated content.
Source: GMB / Poder360
