Politics
Brazilian President Finds Cure For High Oil Prices Valid Through Election Day
By Sean Vanity, . BSN Network. Satire.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced Monday that his government would slash federal fuel taxes in response to rising global oil prices, a policy move his office described as urgent, compassionate, and entirely unconnected to the presidential election scheduled for October 6th.
Lula has been president since January 2023. Oil prices have been rising since well before that. The tax cuts were announced this week.
The timing, the administration stressed, is a coincidence. A beautiful one. One of those coincidences where the math works out so cleanly that a cynic might almost call it a campaign strategy, but a cynic would be wrong, and also probably not Brazilian, and therefore unable to fully appreciate the cultural context.
The specific cultural context is that Lula is trailing in some polls and gas is expensive.
"The Brazilian people deserve relief from global market pressures that are entirely beyond their control," Lula said at a press conference, standing in front of a banner that did not say 'Vote Lula' but was the same shade of red. "This government acts for the people. Always. Without exception. Especially now."
Especially now.
Analysts who study Brazilian fiscal policy noted that the cuts are structured to provide maximum consumer benefit in the weeks immediately preceding the election, then quietly phase out in a manner that will require a separate press conference to explain, probably around November, when the cameras have moved on and everyone is too tired to be angry about it.
Petrobras, the state oil company that Lula's government has spent two years pressuring to keep domestic fuel prices artificially low, confirmed that it remains committed to working with the administration toward whatever number the administration needs it to confirm.
Former President Jair Bolsonaro, who pioneered the exact same fuel tax cut strategy in the months before the 2022 election that he then lost anyway, issued a statement calling the move "shameless electoral manipulation." He issued it from his home in Orlando, Florida, where he has been living since January 2023. The statement did not mention Orlando or 2022.
Economists estimate the cuts will cost the Brazilian federal government approximately 27 billion reais in foregone revenue, a figure the Finance Ministry described as "an investment in stability" and everyone else described as 27 billion reais.
A voter in Sao Paulo named Marcus told a local outlet that he planned to fill up his tank this weekend regardless of who was responsible. "I don't care about politics," Marcus said. "I just need to get to work." Marcus is registered to vote. His polling station is four kilometers from the gas station.
The cuts expire November 4th.
Nobody in the administration has explained what happens to oil prices on November 5th, but the Ministry of Finance does have a committee looking into it, which is scheduled to hold its first meeting sometime in the first quarter of next year.
The story we are making fun of: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-09/lula-cuts-fuel-taxes-as-oil-prices-rise-ahead-of-brazil-election