Rio Says World Cup a Bust as Congress Strips State of Taxes
This article is for subscribers only.
Rio de Janeiro state said it may not be ready to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games after Brazil’s Congress voted to strip 6 percent of the state’s annual budget.
Legislators passed a bill yesterday that would cost Rio 4 billion reais ($2 billion) next year by redistributing oil royalties, according to Governor Sergio Cabral. The lower house of Congress voted 286-124 to give non-producing states and towns a bigger share of offshore oil revenue, which amounted to 24.2 billion reais in 2011.