Brasilia, January 27 (RHC-teleSUR) -- Workers Party (PT) President Rui Falcao told high-ranking lawmakers that taxes should “spare the middle class and workers and instead fall on the wealthy,” as the PT convened in Brasilia, capital city of Brazil, Tuesday in order to analyze the country’s current political and economic situation.

The gathering, which forms part of the PT’s annual National Executive Committee (CEN) meeting, takes place as the Brazilian economy has declined sharply over the last four years, with GDP growth returning to the rates of the pre-Workers Party era.

During the event, PT President Rui Falcao delivered an important speech in which he defended the recent decision by the Brazilian Central Bank to lower interest rates, admitting that higher rates had “failed to curb inflation, increased the country’s domestic debt and discouraged private investment.”

Falcao went on to state that the recent appointment of Nelson Barbosa as the country’s finance minister late last year “opened up” the debate around the country’s macro-economic policy.

In order to restore economic growth, the PT leader advocated for an overhaul of the country’s tax system, which unfairly punishes poor households and particularly Afro-Brazilian women.

A survey carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) found that the poorest 10 percent of the Brazilian population allocates 32 percent of their income toward taxes whereas the richest 10 percent only spend 21 percent.

Falcao warned that the approval of necessary legislative reforms will be made difficult due to the current composition and conservative political orientation of Brazil’s Congress.