The areas established by the bill for the voucher use are: visual arts, performing arts, audiovisual, literature and humanities, music and cultural heritage.

On Wednesday (14), The Floor approved the Bill No. 5798/09 from the Executive Branch which creates the Vale Cultura for employees with up to five minimum wages. The companies which adopted the Programa Cultura do Trabalhador (Worker Culture Program) will both distribute the R$ 50 monthly voucher and potentially use it to purchase cultural services or products, e.g. books and tickets for movie, theater, and museum. The Senate must yet vote for the issue.

The companies will be able to deduct until 10% from the Vale-Cultura of employee’s wage, but he can or cannot accept it. The bill allows one to distribute the voucher for employees earning until five (5) minimum wages (R$ 2,325.00) only if all employees who earn this amount were already provided. For these higher wages, the employee’s withholding will be from 20 to 90% from the voucher.

One will not consider the amount earned by the employees as wage nor use it as basis of calculation for social security contribution or FGTS (Guarantee Fund for Length of Service).

Chamber Contribution
The text approved in the Chamber is the clean bill of the Committee on Labor, Administration and Civil Service, of the Deputy Manuela D'Ávila (PCdoB-RS). It integrates the amendment of the Deputy Paulo Rubem Santiago (PDT-PE), rapporteur by the Committee on Education and Culture.
In the vote accomplished by The Floor, one approved only one amendment, submitted by the PPS leader, Deputy Fernando Coruja (SC).

According to the initial bill, the changes are:

 Increasing advantage for employees with disability who monthly earn until seven (7) minimum wages;
 Including federal public service employees among the Vale-Cultura beneficiaries. In this case, the expenses will be both supported by the Union Budget and limited to those who earn until five (5) minimum wages.
 In the case of the states, such as Federal District and municipalities, each government shall accomplish a specific law aiming to provide the advantage to its servers, according to the bill general rules.
 Including trainees of the participant companies, following the same procedure of use and discounts;
 Increasing the Vale-Cultura to the retired people who until five (5) minimum wages, with National Treasury funds, an amount of R$ 30 monthly.
 Enabling to include beneficiary employees’ dependents, in the event of the company expenses along with the benefit do not achieve the deduction ceiling of 1% of the due income tax. The benefit to dependents will be governed by the program regulation.
 Encouraging to visit establishments that provide the integration of science, education, and culture.
 Based on the labor collective bargaining, the companies which are not part of the program will be able to acquire the voucher to assign it to their employees. However, they will not have the right of legal tax deduction forecasted by the bill.

Restricted Access
According to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), a small part of the population has access to culture in the country. Only 14% of the Brazilian people often go to the movies, 96% do not visit museums, 93% have never been in an art exhibition and 78% never watched a dance performance.

The government considers alarming that 90% of the municipalities do not have movie theaters, museums or cultural centers. According to the rapporteur, the Vale-Cultura "certainly will contribute to the improvement of such deplorable indexes."

Execution
The program is performed by operating companies, subscribed in the Ministry of Culture which will be allowed to manufacture and trade the voucher.
One cannot transfer the benefit in cash. Preferably, one requires magnetic card. Being the use of card infeasible, the paper voucher will be allowed. In addition, the operating companies shall enable the recipient companies, which will accept the payment of cultural service or product by magnetic card.
A regulation will establish the benefit expiry dates and the conditions of use.

Tax benefit
The companies adopting the program and distributing the vouchers to their employees will be known as beneficiary, since they will be able to withhold the amount spent with the purchase of these vouchers from the due income tax.

The deduction is limited to 1% of the tax, referring to the amount distributed to the user and may be used only by taxed companies based on its Taxable Income. The tax incentive will be valid until 2014.

The estimative computed by the Executive Branch referred to the tax waiver with the Programa de Cultura do Trabalhador (created by the bill) is R$ 2.5 billion in 2010, if all taxed companies based on the taxable income subscribe. The 2011 estimative is R$ 2.7 billion and for 2012, R$ 2.9 billion.

The government did not agree with the approval of the amendment that also benefits the retired people. Ricardo Barros (PP-PR), Vice-Leader of the Government, warned that the approval causes an extra expenditure of R$ 4.8 billion to the Union and shall be vetoed by the President of the Republic if remains in the text.

Penalties 
If an operating or beneficiary company of the program accomplishes any act that results in a change of purpose, accumulative fines or restrictions may punish it.

Among the penalties are provided: cancelation of the subscription in the program and the payment of the amount that was no longer paid to the public treasuries – income tax, FGTS [Guarantee Fund for Length of Service], social security contribution – on the deviated amount.

Furthermore, the companies may have their access to lines of financing in official banks suspended; fines that the amount was received twice and undue; prohibition of making agreements with the public administration for two (2) years; suspension of tax benefits for two (2) years.

Reporting – Eduardo Piovesan
Edition - João Pitella Junior/Rejane Xavier
Translation - Grupo Solucion-SP Language/Edgar Casadei