“We are in favor of tax relief, a reduction in taxes, but now we will see, in the context of parliamentary discussion, the terms in which it will be done because we also have to take care of public accounts’ stability and have healthy public finances,” he said.
José Luís Carneiro was speaking to journalists upon arriving at a campaign event at SEDES, in Lisbon, after being questioned about the Government’s proposal for an additional IRS reduction worth 500 million euros, to be implemented this year.
Noting that it was a PS government that was “at the origin of the largest tax reduction in recent years” and that created the IRS Jovem, the candidate for secretary-general stated that socialists are in favor of “lowering taxes on labor.”
“However, we must consider public accounts and the terms under which we can proceed with greater or lesser reduction, because we have a principle of budget responsibility that needs to be safeguarded. We must then ensure that the measure meets an objective of social justice,” he argued.
For Carneiro, it’s essential to “ensure those who earn less have greater reduction.”
“Naturally, the Socialist Party is a party with great responsibility, it has many competencies and capabilities to propose improvements regarding the measures, the proposals. We will now wait for the discussion that will take place in the Assembly of the Republic,” he responded when asked if the PS will present amendment proposals to this proposal.
The Council of Ministers approved on Wednesday the draft law for an additional IRS reduction worth 500 million euros, to be applied this year, a measure that has already been submitted to Parliament.
In a statement, the Council of Ministers highlighted that the approved proposal “allows for renewed tax burden relief by additionally reducing the marginal rates across all brackets, up to the 8th bracket.”
The government’s proposal foresees decreases in IRS rates of 0.5 percentage points between the first and third brackets, 0.6 percentage points between the fourth and sixth, and 0.4 percentage points in the seventh and eighth.
“Thus, new withholding tax tables will be approved reflecting the reduction of IRS rates, retroactively effective from January,” it reads.
