In his speech, Mercadante stated that one of the alternatives would be to increase taxes on sports betting, the so-called 'Bets'.
“We need an agenda that is not just from the Ministry of Finance. Business entities must present solutions and proposals as well. I am already making a public suggestion: let's increase the tax on bets, which are eroding people's finances. With this, we could, for example, reduce the impact of IOF and create alternatives,” stated Mercadante.
The president of BNDES acknowledged that the increase in the IOF raises the cost of credit for companies and consumers, but he pointed out that the measure is for revenue purposes and has been more stringent in the past.
“We are impacted by the IOF, from this recent measure, but we have already had a much higher IOF. The IOF has a monetary contraction function, as it raises the cost of credit. However, while the Selic generates debt, the IOF generates revenue and helps reduce the problem of the debt/GDP ratio,” he explained.
Mercadante also praised the performance of Minister Fernando Haddad as head of the Treasury and once again criticized the current level of the basic interest rate, currently at 14.75% per year.
Last Thursday (22), the federal government announced changes to the IOF rates, including an increase in the tax on credit for companies, from 1.88% to 3.95% per year. Some other measures announced were later revised by the government.
In an interview yesterday, at the same event as Mercadante, Haddad stated that the government will define by the end of this week ways to compensate for the setbacks in the increase of some IOF rates.
A lawsuit
A lawsuit in the Federal Court of São Paulo demands the return of all Bolsa Família money collected by online betting companies since November 2024, when Minister Luiz Fux, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), forced the government to take measures to prevent program resources from being invested in betting.
The lawsuit is an initiative of the NGOs Educafro, the Center for the Defense of the Rights of Children and Adolescents (Cedeca) and the Center for the Defense of Human Rights Padre Ezequiel Ramin.
Source: GMB
