The new minister of the Secretariat of Institutional Relations, José Guimarães, indicated that banning sports betting companies (the “bets”) will be difficult because of the “correlation of forces in Congress”. He said that the deputies would be willing to discuss some greater type of “regulation” of betting.
Guimarães took office as SRI minister on Tuesday, 14th. Until then, he was leader of the government in the Chamber, with many relationships with deputies from the left, but also from Centrão – the wing of the Legislature with more relationships with these betting companies.
“What I feel in Congress is that the group is willing to regulate, but end (with bets)… We have to take into account the correlation of forces in Congress”, stated the minister this Thursday, 16th, in his first press conference with journalists at Palácio do Planalto since taking office. “The topic (bets) is under discussion in the government, but Congress, from what I understand, is only interested in regulating,” he declared.
Guimarães said that the measures being analyzed by the government are correlated with actions to combat Brazilians’ debt. I did not want to detail any measure that is being studied by the economic team and the Civil House.
The new minister of political articulation of the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), followed the boss’s speech and also took a stand against charging a 20% tax on international purchases and up to US$50 (which became known as the “blouse tax”). He gave a personal opinion, calling the tax “one of the reasons for the greatest wear and tear on the government”. “If the government decides to revoke the tax on blouses, I think it’s a good thing,” he said in a personal capacity, without stating whether he defended this position internally within the government.
Lula and some assistants, mainly those linked to political departments, have taken a stand against the blouse tax due to its high unpopularity. The measure, however, was approved with the consent and effort of the economic team at a time of need to increase health revenue from public accounts.
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Despite this, it had broad support in Congress, with votes ranging from PL to PT. First Lady Rosângela da Silva, known as Janja, took a stance against it, but the position of part of the government prevailed, together with the lobby of the Brazilian retail sector and deputies and senators.
