State-owned companies play a central role in cultural funding.

Guilherme Jeronymo
Reporter from Agência Brasil

Rio de Janeiro - The weight of public companies, especially federal ones, in supporting and financing the areas of sports and culture is crucial for the functioning of public policies in these sectors.

Even though there are approximately 100 companies in a universe of 19.151 individuals and legal entities that used the Culture Incentive Law Last year, four of the 20 largest companies that made donations through tax breaks in 2011 were state-owned enterprises.

These companies alone donated R$ 207,01 million, while the 16 largest private donors contributed R$ 304,19 million, three of which—Vale S/A, Eletropaulo Metropolitana Eletricidade de São Paulo SA, and Telecomunicações de São Paulo SA—were state-owned companies until the 1990s. That year, the mechanism raised R$ 612,92 million for the cultural sector.

Survey made by Agency Brazil A study conducted across six state-owned companies - Petrobras, Eletrobras, Correios, Banco do Brasil, Caixa Econômica Federal, and BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development) - outlines a scenario for investments in culture and sports.

Cultural patronage operates through the use of resources deductible from income tax owed by companies to the Federal Revenue Service. Adding together patronage and resources from the National Culture Fund, the sector received R$ 1,34 billion in 2011. The total budget of the Ministry of Culture, as outlined in the 2013 Annual Budget Bill (Ploa 2013), is R$ 1,773 billion and includes expenses for personnel, infrastructure, and supplies.

“From before the National Culture Plan until today, state-owned companies have been the main support for the government's cultural policies, because the ministry is very weak in terms of resources. The companies have more muscle than the ministry itself,” observes Manoel Marcondes Machado Neto, professor at the Faculty of Administration and Finance of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj) and researcher of entertainment policies.

In the area of ​​sports, the weight of state-owned companies in sector incentive law This can also be a determining factor. The accountability system does not allow for the separation by sector of the supporting company, with a total of R$ 220,58 million supported in 2011. Data released by Petrobras, for example, shows that, this year, the company allocated R$ 57 million to sports. The company did not reveal how these resources were allocated (whether only through tax breaks or with the presence of other means).

The budget for the Ministry of Sports in the 2013 Budget Law is R$ 1,799 billion. It is worth noting that the laws supporting culture date back to the 1980s, while support for sports, apart from lottery revenue or debt forgiveness, comes from 2007. The weight of incentive laws in the ministries' budgets is worrying, according to Machado Neto. “The policies are still sporadic. The company doesn't want to implement structural policies because it's a medium- to long-term thing. Those who decide what we listen to, what we see performed, the shows, are the…” marketing "From the companies. We are completely at the mercy of decisions that are private, with public money," says the professor from Uerj.

Data compiled by the Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic (Secom) indicates that, in 2.011, 4.943 sponsorship proposals were analyzed, totaling R$ 1,17 billion, across "the cultural, sports, environmental, social, and relationship or opportunity events segments."

The tax breaks for these sectors, despite attracting media criticism and having scope due to occupying strategic sectors of... marketing It is not of great relevance when compared to other sectors. According to data from the 2011 Tax Expenditure Statement of the Federal Revenue Service, tax waivers for the year totaled R$ 116 billion. The culture sector received 1,49%, or R$ 1,724 billion, and the sports sector, 0,35%, or R$ 403,7 million.

In the health sector, tax benefits totaled R$ 13,5 billion, or 11,63%, of which the tax waiver for health expenses in the Personal Income Tax totaled R$ 4,4 billion and, for legal entities, R$ 2,93 billion. The sector with the greatest tax support is commerce and services, which received 27,33% of the tax support, or R$ 31,7 billion, of which R$ 18,6 billion went to micro-enterprises that joined the Simples Nacional (Simplified National Tax System) at the time.