Sports betting tax online will be the alternative to offset revenue losses with the correction of the Income Tax (IR) table, said this Wednesday (1st) the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad. According to him, most countries tax this practice, and the regulation could come out this month.
“I will regulate. We readjusted the IR table, and this has a small loss, but it has [uma perda]. We are going to compensate with taxation on these electronic games that do not pay taxes, but take a fortune from the country”, declared the minister in an interview with UOL. “This type of game worldwide is taxed,” he added.
Although the minister referred to electronic games, the Ministry of Finance’s press office clarified to Brazil Agency that Haddad was referring to online sports betting, mainly on football results, also called sports betting. The measure would not include video games or electronic sports, called e-sports.
During the interview, the minister did not detail how much the government will collect with the measure. According to him, the economic team is still studying the fiscal impact. “The gain would be in the order of billions of reais. Not many [bilhões]but some,” Haddad said.
Currently, the Ministry of Finance is finalizing the proposal for correction of the income tax table, one of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s campaign promises. In an interview two weeks ago for the CNN Brasil network, Lula stated that the government intends to raise the exemption limit from R$ 1,903.98 to R$ 2,640, the equivalent of two minimum wages, starting in May.
If it goes into practice in two months, the measure will make the government stop collecting R$ 3.2 billion this year, according to the Federal Revenue Service. For 2024, the impact would be equivalent to BRL 6 billion.
