(Adds Economy Minister comments) BRASILIA, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Brazil’s federal tax revenue last year totaled 1.48 trillion reais ($269 billion), the revenue service said on Monday, a decline of 6.9% on the previous year due to the hit to the economy from the COVID-19 pandemic. Revenue in December rose from the same month the previous year, however, for a fifth straight month as the economy continued to recover and the revenue service recouped more tax payments that were deferred earlier in the year. Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said the relatively small decline over the course of 2020 was remarkable given the scale of the economic seizure earlier last year. “This shows the strength of the economic recovery,” Guedes said in an online briefing to journalists, noting that tax revenues in May had plunged 30%. “The drop in revenue was well below what was projected at the beginning of the year, by economists, agencies and international bodies. This is an excellent result, given the situation,” he said. December’s total tax take was 159.1 billion reais, up 3.2% in real terms on the same month in 2019, the agency said. It was exactly in line with a Reuters poll of economists. The total 2020 federal tax take of 1.48 trillion reais was down 6.9% from 2019. Alongside a far bigger surge in spending to tackle the crisis, the lower tax take is expected to contribute to a 2020 government budget deficit of around 800 billion reais. Corporate payments to employment insurance and other social contributions fell 12% last year to 300 billion reais, social security revenues were down 7% to 430 billion reais, while corporate taxes were virtually stable at 272 billion reais. Personal income tax revenues fell 2% to 133 billion reais, and revenue from the ‘IOF’ tax on credit card transactions nearly halved to 22 billion reais after that levy was eliminated earlier this year as a temporary measure to tackle the economic harm caused by the coronavirus.