The Antipatriotic Triumph Of Travancas the Terrible

In colonial days, Brazilians consid ered it an act of patriotism to refuse to pay taxes to their Portuguese masters. Such patriotism dies hard. Last year, in fact, after 143 years of independence, more than half of Brazil's 200,000 self-employed doctors, lawyers, small busi nessmen and farmers still refused to file tax returns, and the government figures that 95% of those who did file cheated. Indeed, had it not been for the compulsory withholding taxes taken out of wage earners' paychecks, the gov ernment might well have used up its entire income tax receipts just to pay the salaries of its tax collectors. But then until last year, tax evasion was not even a crime.

Exterior Signs. It is now. Aware that unbalanced government budgets were a key factor in Brazil's rampaging inflation, President Humberto Castello Branco and his revolutionary military regime rammed through a tough universal income-tax law that set realistic tax rates* streamlined the archaic collection system, made tax dodgers liable to two years in prison. In to run the operation moved Orlando Travancas, 47, a reform-bent tax official who has weeded out dishonest inspectors, set up a school to train new ones, and installed ten computers to keep track of returns.

Under the new law, Travancas' men also have the right to search for "exterior signs" of wealth--which might indicate, for example, that the owner of a $75,000 Copacabana Beach apartment really earned more than the $2,000 he declared on his tax form. At present, revenue agents are combing through membership lists in yacht and race-track clubs, checking the resources of Brazilian tourists abroad. Hostesses who once boasted about their cuisine now beg society columnists not to mention the delicacies served at their dinners.

Rumbled Warning. The first real test of the new system came last month, the deadline for filing 1965 tax returns. The results were almost unbelievable. Not only were internal revenue offices jammed with unprecedented numbers of Brazilians, but most of them actually seemed to be paying up. After a preliminary check, Travancas triumphantly estimated that payments were up 60% over the year before, and that 500,000 new taxpayers had been added to the rolls. Furthermore, he rumbled, "I know very well who has lied on his income tax statement."

All of which led Brazilians to call their new tax boss "Travancas the Terrible." "I am not terrible," he protests. "I just want to enforce the law." To most of his countrymen, that is terrible enough.

-- From 12% of taxable income above $1,740 to 50% above $25,300 per year.

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