Brazil: Governors discuss again security plan with money from gaming taxation

One of the proposals presented by a group of governors during a meeting with the mayor of the Chamber, Deputy Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RJ) on Monday afternoon, concerns the creation of a national public safety plan. Governor of Piauí, Wellington Dias (PT) said that a proposal was made to create a fund that would be fed through regulation and taxation of electronic games of chance.

The proposal had already been discussed in November at another governors' meeting in Brasilia. There is already a bill presented in the Chamber of Deputies on the subject.

Citing studies by House and Senate technicians, Wellington Dias guarantees that regulation of gambling will generate additional revenue of approximately US$6.15 billion per year.

"That money will add up to the amount that states already apply to security," he said. The governor comments that Rodrigo Maia will guide the proposal of the security plan, in the Chamber, shortly after the carnival.

“Today, we need to bring the population agenda to Congress. And one of the most serious problems is security. And the understanding today, and it is unanimous, is that we must control the entry of arms and drugs at the borders and that it is also necessary to create a national policy, as with health and education. Crime is organized at national level.”

The proponents of regulation estimates that Brazilians spend around US$21.5 billion per year in illegal gambling, an amount that is not taxed. "It's an activity that already exists. We just need to regulate it. Today almost all governors defend the taxation and regulation of gaming,” Dias said.

Also attending the meeting were governors of Rio de Janeiro, Luiz Fernando Pezão (PMDB); Minas Gerais, Fernando Pimentel (PT); Rio Grande do Sul, José Ivo Sartori (PMDB); Goiás, Marconi Perillo (PSDB); Santa Catarina, Raimundo Colombo (PSD); Alagoas, Renan Filho (PMDB) and Acre, Tião Viana (PT).

The proposed security plan was discussed along with at least two other projects aimed at bailing out indebted states.

The meeting took place on the day Congress returned from recess and the agenda of the Social Security reform returned to the agenda in the government.

Governors, however, deny that state bailouts are a form of bargaining for governors to influence deputies on their constituencies to vote for reform.

Source: GMB / O Globo