Speaking in Ponte de Lima just hours after the government presented its proposal for 2026, Mariana Leitão asserted that the “budget is not ambitious for the Portuguese people, nor for Portugal, it’s a budget for the State.”
The IL highlighted concerns regarding the insufficient tax reductions and the lack of solutions for the cost of living and housing issues.
“We will not forgo presenting proposals during the specialty stage. We will fight for them because it is crucial for the government to understand the need to respond to the Portuguese people,” she argued, suggesting that this “budget prioritizes the State over the Portuguese people.”
“The cost of living continues to rise significantly in recent years,” and people “are increasingly struggling to meet their expenses,” she noted.
Regarding housing, the liberal leader criticized the lack of initiatives, stating that “people find it very difficult to buy or rent a house; young people cannot move out of their parents’ homes, and many working individuals still cannot secure housing.”
“Despite this government and the previous one, which essentially has the same ministers and prime minister, having presented several supposedly housing-targeted packages, they are not reflected in the State budget,” the IL leader charged, criticizing the lack of proposals from Luís Montenegro’s executive.
Furthermore, “State expenses increase without public services truly serving the people,” while the country “continues to face numerous problems in health, education, and mobility.”
Another criticism of the document is, “obviously, the taxes on labor where people work a whole month, and at the end, are heavily penalized by a high tax burden,” and “even the very small reductions that are made never include the middle class.”
“Therefore, the middle class, which is the main engine sustaining the State and public services, ends up being completely suffocated by taxes at the end of the month,” added the liberal leader, who visited a sanitary ware factory in Queijada today, as part of the municipal election campaign.
In the morning, the caravan led by Mariana Leitão interacted with a craftsman and, in the afternoon, opted to visit an “industry of two young designers” who “launched a new way of creating sanitary ware.”
Craftsmanship and innovation are two “realities that can, undoubtedly, walk hand in hand and each contribute in their own way to the country’s development,” added Mariana Leitão.
[Updated at 16:27]
