Brazil approves a major tax reform overhaul that Lula says will 'facilitate investment'

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s lower house has approved a major reform of the nation’s notoriously complicated tax system in a major victory for leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who threw his weight behind the proposal.

The long-awaited tax reform aims to simplify the system, widely considered overly burdensome for both individuals and businesses, and boost economic growth that has drifted between downturns and doldrums for the last decade.