Só Acredito Vendo is an engagement campaign for transparency in Brazilian government spending on tax exemptions.
Every year, the Brazilian government is missing out on collecting about R$ 300 billion from companies and people. This is not an insignificant amount- for example,it would be possible to buy 3.5 million respirators with this money.
This money is not collected due to tax exemptions, and there is a lack of transparency about how organizations are using this exempt money and which organizations are receiving it. In exchange for these exemptions, the promise is that the organizations will invest in improvements for society, such as the creation of jobs.
This sounds like a good idea in theory, but the problem is that we don’t have precise information about who benefits from these incentives and where the resources go, which makes it impossible to evaluate them. What we already know is that the government encourages some sectors and companies that pollute the environment and cause damage to our health – such as the subsidy for the purchase of pesticides.
Therefore, these 4 organizations- INESC, ACT – Promoção da Saúde, Campanha Contra o Agrotóxico e pela Vida and FIAN-with the support of the Purpose Anti-Corruption Lab, got together to mobilize people around this issue. The campaign included more than 38 organizations, reached 800,000 people and engaged more than 1,800 people to raise awareness about the importance of the issue and to engage people in the approval of the law bill that guarantees transparency of this information.
São 300 bilhões que as empresas deixam de pagar em impostos. A promessa é que esse dinheiro vire melhorias para a população. Mas faltam informações para saber se isso acontece. Se as isenções fiscais são boas, #SóAcreditoVendo! Assine já o Manifesto em https://t.co/lvVUPDeJMt pic.twitter.com/PuJHhbNJGw
— Campanha Contra os Agrotóxicos e Pela Vida (@semagrotoxico) September 16, 2021
Quanto poderia ser feito para a população com 300 bilhões? Mais auxílio emergencial, mais bolsa família, mais alimentação escolar. Melhorias que o governo federal deixa de fazer com as isenções fiscais. Assine o manifesto em https://t.co/OMbmS6oktO #SóAcreditoVendo pic.twitter.com/2UkUSjFyUZ
— Inesc (@InescOficial) September 22, 2021
The campaign is still active with the organizations that carry out the campaign and is already celebrating victories- in December of 2021, a law was published that extinguished tax secrecy on tax benefits.
The more information we have, the more we can participate and influence the government to promote healthier and more sustainable companies and policies.
To learn more, visit: https://www.soacreditovendo.org.br/ (in Portuguese).
for Equity & Evidence