Tax breaks handed to Fifa World Cup sponsors will cost Brazil up to £312 million, charity InspirAction warned yesterday.

The sweetheart deals mean that the country will have to pay even more on top of the billions of pounds it has already spent to host the competition.

“The price of these tax breaks for corporate giants will be paid by people living in poverty in Brazil and that is obscene,” said Isabel Ortigosa of InspirAction.

“Brazil is already one of the most unequal countries in the world.

“The millions that Fifa demands for its sponsors should be used for the benefit of Brazil’s many poor communities, not to enrich the already powerful.

“The most conservative estimates suggest that Brazil will lose about £145m to tax breaks for World Cup sponsors, although some estimates suggest the loss could reach £312m.

“This is money that should be used to help Brazil’s millions of poor families, for instance with better schools, hospitals and public transport.”

Brazil has been rocked by protests over the rising cost of the World Cup and Olympics while many are gripped by poverty and an unfair tax system.

InspirAction pointed to quilombola communities — formed by runaway slaves — in Para state who face a land tax bill of £4m that they have no hope of paying.

Brazilians face tax bill of up to £312 million