Resources from the taxation of sports betting, regulated by a provisional measure last week, move economic sectors and their lobbies in the National Congress in search of a slice of what is collected with “bets”.
Until the closing of this article (9:45 am on August 1st) 239 amendments to the original text of PM 1,182 had been filed by deputies and senators.
The text sent by the government to the National Congress establishes that fixed-quota lotteries will be taxed at 18% on the so-called “Gross Gaming Revenue” (GGR), which is the income obtained from all games after the payment of prizes to players and the payment of Income Tax on the prize pool.
Projections by the Ministry of Finance indicate the collection of at least R$ 2 billion (US$ 422m) in 2024.
In the following years, estimates range from R$ 6 billion (US$ 1.26bn) to R$ 12 billion (US$ 5.53bn).
Everyone, apparently, wants a slice of it. In the PM, the government distributed the 18% tax as follows:
Depending on the parliamentarians, however, it will not stay that way. Deputy Sergeant Portugal (Podemos-RJ) wants 1% to be earmarked specifically for health care for military police officers.
“[The amendment] aims to preserve the physical and psychological integrity of military police officers, who are routinely exposed to risk and stress situations. This exposure is reflected in physical and mental disorders, such as high blood pressure, panic disorder, depression, anxiety and suicidal behavior,” says Sargento Portugal in the justification.
Jonas Donizette (PSB-SP) intends to donate 1.5% to the General Tourism Fund, and Fred Linhares (Republicanos-DF) would like to dedicate 1% to vocational schools in the S System, such as Senac and Senai.
The move also includes heavyweights in Congress, such as former Minister of Agriculture and Senator Teresa Cristina (PP-MS). It proposes the allocation of 1% of the total collected for actions of monitoring, control and surveillance of borders by the Ministry of Defense.
“Brazil has borders with ten of the 12 other countries in South America, with a total length of 16,885 km, and needs growing economic contributions, aiming to guarantee the security of Brazilian borders,” says Teresa Cristina.
A group of left-wing parliamentarians, including deputy Erika Hilton (Psol-SP) and senator Paulo Paim (PT-RS), want a slice of 0.5% of revenues for the Ministry of Racial Equality.
“The recent cases of racism in sports, but specifically in football, have exposed the structural nature of racial discrimination in Brazil. […] This is a small amount compared to the challenge of combating racism in a country with a history of more than 350 years of institutionalized slavery,” argue the authors of the joint amendment.
Deputy Weliton Prado (Solidariedade-MG) suggests allocating 0.25% to the National Fund to Combat Cancer, which does not yet exist and would need to be instituted by law.
Meanwhile, taking advantage of a law recently sanctioned by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) that creates the National Policy to Incentive Honey Production, Congressman Pompeo de Mattos (PDT-RS) wants to allocate 0.3% to beekeepers federations and honey producers.
“With bee pollination, sunflower production can increase by up to 75%. The apple can have an increase of up to 94%. In soybean plantations, in addition to reducing the application of pesticides, productivity increases by 25%,” explains Pompeo de Mattos.
The deputy from Rio Grande do Sul concludes with a quotation: “Einstein, one of the greatest geniuses of humanity, said: ‘If we eliminate all the bees, human beings will last a few more months on Earth'.”
Without altering the portion assigned to entities of the National Sports System, which includes sports clubs, deputy Antônio Carlos Rodrigues (PL-SP) intends to give gamblers the option of contributing to samba schools and the Parintins boi-bumbá.
Source: GMB / CNN
