A statistical study of Brazilian education reveals that children of high-income, well-educated groups enjoy better educational opportunities and a usually higher rate of return on their educational investment than do the children of low-income groups. Poorer regions of the country, however, have a higher rate of return than do regions with a larger investment, indicating a developing equalization of the regional averages of individual incomes nationwide. Education subsidies and tax policies favor low-income, educated individuals, but the effectiveness of these policies is offset by the better educational opportunities available to the high-income educated, partly through the availability of high cost private education. The Brazilian government is taking the necessary first step towards achieving income equality by increasing educational opportunity through the extension of state-subsidized basic elementary and lower secondary education to all regions of the country. Equalizing employment opportunities within the relatively healthy Brazilian economy and reducing education wastage through improved efficiency in the educational system are the next steps. Subsidizing the education of low-income groups more fully than that of higher income groups would cost money but could be effective, while increased taxing of the educated probably would not. (Author/PGD)