“It is unacceptable for the government to agree to return 200 million euros through the Additional Solidarity to banks without creating a viable alternative. An alternative that protects public finances and taxpayers from the Constitutional Court’s decision, which deemed the Additional Solidarity on banks unsustainable, is possible. The solution is simple: increase the contribution from the banking sector,” argued Mariana Mortágua.
The national coordinator of the left-wing party was presenting her party’s proposed amendments to the State Budget for 2026. The submission deadline is today, and she began by criticizing the document being marked by a tax reduction for banks, which are reporting ever-higher profits daily, achieved at the expense of interest rates, spreads, and fees on those struggling to make ends meet.
Mortágua believes “this solution is simple” and involves increasing the contribution from the banking sector, which “already exists and is currently allocated to the Resolution Fund.”
“We aim to compensate taxpayers for a government decision that seeks to undermine public finances by handing 200 million euros to the banks, beyond the reduction of corporate tax (IRC), without any compensation,” she stated.
Questioned about Caixa Geral de Depósitos’ historic profits of 1.4 billion euros between January and September, 2% higher than the same period in 2024, Mortágua accused the government of using the public bank as a “piggy bank.”
Mortágua asserted that the fundamental issue is “why the government is bolstering public accounts with Caixa’s dividends while undermining them by reducing taxes for banks.”
“Why is the government using Caixa Geral de Depósitos as a piggy bank, collecting hundreds of millions of euros annually in dividends, while simultaneously reducing corporate taxes for all banks making enormous profits, and moreover, returning the solidarity surcharge of 200 million euros?” she criticized.
During this press conference, the deputy estimated that the BE would submit around 150 amendments to the Budget, reiterating some known proposals, such as establishing a support fund for municipalities of the six dams sold by EDP, funded by taxes paid by the Portuguese utility company.
“This proposal is exactly the one the PSD parliamentary group put forward in the Assembly of the Republic in 2020, and we believe the PSD hasn’t changed its position since then, considering that the current Finance Minister was then the parliamentary leader of the PSD,” she noted.
The BE aims to ensure a minimum annual increase of 50 euros for all pensioners, emphasizing this proposal’s stark contrast to the government’s extraordinary increases that do not contribute to the annual pension adjustment calculation.
The lone deputy affirmed that pension increases should not depend on “government whims or election timings, as has been the case so far,” and that pensioners “shouldn’t be used as electoral pawns by successive governments, which adjust support to gain or lose votes among this demographic.”
The BE has also introduced a proposal allowing those with housing credit post-2011 to deduct mortgage interest from income tax, with rent ceilings adjusted based on property characteristics, or increasing the meal subsidy to 12 euros for both public and private sectors.
Mortágua also highlighted “a promise that cannot be forgotten,” namely providing firefighters with risk allowances, early retirement options, or salary increases.
