Primus has successfully represented the interests of Latvia's “I support sports!” sports federation initiative at the meeting of the Sports Sub-Committee of the Parliamentary Commission for Education, Culture, and Science.
In the meeting, representatives of the sports industry reported that, as the result of recent tax reform in the country, the amount of funds donated to sports during the first half of 2018 decreased, putting further successful functioning of the industry at risk.
According to Astra Kalane, a spokeswoman of Latvia's Ministry of Finance, there is no objective measure of the amount of donations made by enterprises after the tax reform enters into force, especially considering that most of the donations are often in the state budget at the end of the year. She emphasized that companies had additional opportunities to donate to sports, but also pointed out that donation is a voluntary process and that the state cannot force it.
Following the Ministry of Finance's statement on relevant issues, the Parliamentary Sports Sub-Committee requested that the government look for ways to compensate for the reduction in donations to the sports industry in the amount of approximately EUR 2 million.
Primus reports that the “I support sports!” initiative is meant to promote ideas and suggestions for the improvement of the situation of the sports industry in the country, which industry representatives believe is underfunded and operated inefficiently.
Primus summarized and analyzed the amount of donations received during the first six-month period of 2018, and provided recommendations for the improvement of the financing model of the public benefit organizations.
The Primnus team was led by Partner Inguna Abele.
