In a recent interview, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad maintained his position and defended the federal government’s measure to increase taxes on sportsbooks.
The minister made a point of justifying the government’s recent actions to increase revenue. Among them, the increase in taxes on the betting sector through a provisional measure, from 12% to 18%. Furthermore, in an interview with the Metrópoles portal, Haddad blamed the Bolsonaro government for granting privileges to sportsbooks.
According to Haddad, repeating what he said in an interview, President Jair Bolsonaro’s government treated sportsbooks with certain privileges. According to him, Bolsonaro treated sportsbooks as “Holy Houses of Mercy”. These are philanthropic hospitals maintained by religious institutions.
“We are fighting against the privileges of betting companies. The previous government treated betting companies as if they were “Holy Houses of Mercy”. It did not charge a single cent from betting companies for four years,” he said.
What the opposition says about the increase in IOF and the taxation of betting houses
Meanwhile, recently, Senator Izalci Lucas (PL-DF), representative of the opposition in Congress, criticized the increase in the rate of the Tax on Financial Transactions (IOF).
According to the senator, the government is disregarding the principle of annuality, as provided for in the Tax Code, by increasing the tax by up to 300% without prior notice. The senator cited examples of entrepreneurs who had their financing made unviable by the increase in the IOF.
“IOF is not a tax on revenue, you cannot create a tax for companies or individuals without planning. The law is clear! In the Tax Code, you have to follow the principle of annuality, you cannot create a tax and have it come into effect the next day.”
“There is an annual principle, you can’t, you have to create it a year in advance; in the case of contributions, the ninetieth, 90 days. But not here, they take the IOF and the next day they increase the rate, 300%. Is the objective to collect revenue? In all the minister’s statements, the objective of the IOF was to cover the deficit gap”, he concluded.
It is worth remembering that the decree increasing the IOF was overturned in Congress on June 25. The government was already looking for alternatives and issued a Provisional Measure (MP) that includes taxation of sportsbooks, among other measures. However, the measures face resistance in Congress and were harshly criticized by betting industry associations.
