Top Incomes in Brazil: Preliminary Results

Abstract

We present the preliminary results of our analysis of top incomes in Brazil from 2006 to 2012. We describe the evolution of the income shares of the top 1% and the top 5% and estimate a "corrected" Gini coefficient. The data used comes from personal income tax returns, national accounts and household surveys. The results show that the levels of income inequality in Brazil are higher than those estimated using household surveys, and, contrary to what these surveys show, inequality did not fall over this period: the current trend is of stability.

Keywords: income inequality, top incomes, top income shares, tax data

JEL Classification: D3, N36