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known as Amtrak, was part of the Government for purposes of the
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, with Hrubec v. Natl.
R.R. Passenger Corp., 49 F.3d 1269 (7th Cir. 1995), where the
Court of Appeals held that employees of Amtrak are not “employees
of the United States” for purposes of punishing unauthorized
disclosures of an individual’s income tax return under section
7431. Generally, an instrumentality may be treated as part of
the government in circumstances where the instrumentality acts as
an agent on behalf of the sovereign. Transamerica Leasing, Inc.
v. La Republica de Venezuela, 200 F.3d 843, 847 (D.C. Cir. 2000).
In this case, although the Central Bank frequently acts on
behalf of the Brazilian Government, the Finance Minister’s ruling
indicates that, with respect to withholding taxes, there is “an
atypical situation” when interest is paid by the Central Bank
because the Central Bank is:
a federal government agency (autarquia) responsible,
among other duties, for issuing currency, acting as
depositary of the official gold and foreign currency
reserves, providing for the placement of domestic and
foreign loans, furthering the normal function of the
exchange market, acting as a monetary policy instrument
of the government and exercising control over credit in
all its forms.
The ruling recognizes that, although financial transactions
conducted by the Central Bank generally are conducted on behalf
of the Brazilian Government or in its interest, some transactions
are conducted by the Central Bank on behalf of private
individuals. Furthermore, the ruling makes clear that the
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