During the government program debate in parliament, the Minister of State and Finance stated, in response to Chega, that the government would have “the opportunity to bring to this parliament” the proposal to reduce the corporate income tax rate “outside the State Budget,” similar to what was done in the 2025 Budget.
In the government program, the executive confirms the intention to gradually reduce corporate income tax rates to 17% by the end of the legislature.
In response to the parliamentary leader of the CDS-PP, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento reiterated that the government would only decide whether to grant an extraordinary supplement to pensioners “when the budget execution has more concrete numbers” and the executive can thus “better foresee the year.”
In a request for clarification, Livre spokesperson Rui Tavares lamented the political discussion’s focus on immigration, emphasizing that the country’s budget surplus is largely due to immigrants’ contributions in Portugal, and questioned the finance minister about the absence of discussions on reducing VAT.
In reply, Miranda Sarmento argued that the government’s priority is to reduce personal income tax, arguing that reducing VAT “does not reflect, at least entirely, in price decreases” since “part of it is captured by those who produce and sell those goods and services.”
Socialist Miguel Costa Matos sought clarification on a “mysterious synthetic notion of personal income tax to correct undertaxations” mentioned in the government program, questioning whether this proposal aims to tax income like scholarships or social support. He also asked whether the executive intends to implement “a tax policy for everyone” or “continue to have a tax policy only for some.”
Miranda Sarmento responded to the PS deputy by accusing previous socialist governments of implementing proposals like Young People’s Income Tax and social passes “for some,” and that under the AD executive, these benefits became “for everyone.”
The finance minister further remarked on Costa Matos’s intervention, noting “some nostalgia for the time” when the PS and Chega made agreements to “approve measures contrary to what the government decided.”
