The federal government proposed to Congress to expand the taxation on BETS, sports betting houses and end the income tax exemption on investment securities such as real estate credit letters (LCIs) and agribusiness letters of credit (LCAS).
The changes will serve as an alternative to the decree that increased by the Financial Operations Tax (IOF), which, according to Finance Minister Fernando Haddad, will be “recalibrated”.
In the case of BETS, the government’s proposal provides for an increase in taxation from 12% to 18% of GGR (Gross Gaming Revenue), which is gross revenue obtained by betting houses – that is, the total raised with the reais less the amount paid in prizes to players.
According to the minister, investment securities that were previously exempt from income tax will be taxed with a rate of 5%. Encouraged debentures will also be included in the new rule. Taxation, however, will only apply to new applications. The titles that have already been issued remain exempt.
The measures will be included together in a provisional measure.
The government also announced at which points in the IOF decree there will be setbacks:
- Reduction of Credit IOF for companies;
- 80% cut in the rate applied to draweed risk operations (one the most controversial points of the decree);
- Reduction of IOF on life insurance with survival prize (such as the VGBL);
The measures were presented after a meeting that lasted five hours at the official residence of the Chamber of the Chamber.
In addition to Haddad, the meeting was attended by Minister of Institutional Relations, Gleisi Hoffmann, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Hugo Motta (Republicans-PB), and leaders of the National Congress.
The meeting with Congress leaders was scheduled last week during a lunch between President Lula, Haddad and the presidents of the House and Senate. The objective was precisely to present the alternative measures to the decree that raised the IOF in certain operations.
Pressure on IOF decree
With the negative repercussion of the decree, the mayor, Hugo Motta, gave, on the last day (29), a period of 10 days for the economic team to present an alternative.
The requirement came after the dissatisfaction of parliamentarians with the increase in tax and the threat of overthrowing the proposal by the legislature, which would compromise the calculations of the economic team. The government expects to raise about $ 18 billion in 2025 with the measure.
With this period, the economic team began a race to define alternative proposals to compensate for this likely loss of revenue.
