The municipal executive approved, by majority, an amendment to the Regulation on the Allocation of Fiscal Benefits Applicable to Taxes in the municipality of Oeiras. This amendment provides for a reduction in the IMI tax rate of 10% for households without dependents, 17% with one dependent, 23% with two, and 34% with three or more.
After the executive’s prior approval in a meeting to submit to the municipal assembly an increase in the minimum rate of IMI from 0.3% to 0.45% on urban properties, the regulation change was approved with nine votes in favor from Inov25 – Isaltino Inovar Oeiras 25 and two votes against from PS and Chega.
The IMI tax rate for urban properties can range from 0.3% to 0.45%, with municipalities having the authority to set the rate within this interval.
“In the last two years, a thorough analysis was conducted by municipal financial services on this blind application of the IMI, and we concluded that the ones benefiting were banks and major financial funds, who are the prominent property owners in this municipality. Therefore, this rate adjustment was made for greater social justice, and it is ensured through the associated fiscal benefits that no family will pay 0.45%”, stated the mayor, Isaltino Morais (Inov25), in a statement from the city council.
According to the proposal presented to the executive, the amendment aims to “strengthen support for families in the municipality” and “reduce financial burdens associated with housing,” by extending the IMI tax reduction.
The council estimates that for families with three or more dependents, the 34% reduction translates from a 0.3% IMI rate for 1,935 taxpayers, with a total reduction amounting to 362,560 euros. For two dependents, the 23% decrease reflects a 0.35% rate for 7,517 taxpayers and 542,669 euros less in municipal revenue.
For the estimated 9,035 taxpayers with one dependent, the 17% reduction corresponds to a 0.37% IMI rate, or 529,425 euros less for the municipality. In families without dependents, among a universe of 67,320 taxpayers, the 0.41% rate reduces by 2.3 million euros in municipal revenue, totaling a decrease of 3.756 million euros.
IMI rates are annually set within the legal limits of 0.8% for rustic properties and from 0.30% to 0.45% for urban properties. According to a proposal from the vice-president of the council, Francisco Rocha Gonçalves (PSD), applying the 0.45% rate, the municipality estimated a revenue of “over 53 million euros,” with a “fiscal gain” of “about 17.7 million euros”.
Families also benefit cumulatively from IMI tax exemptions and reductions in the context of urban rehabilitation, energy efficiency, as well as a fixed ‘Family IMI’ reduction, with reductions of 30 euros for families with one dependent, 70 euros with two, and 140 euros with three or more.
Councilor Ana Sofia Antunes (PS) voted against the change to the fiscal benefits regulation, considering it “results directly from the previous decision to increase the IMI from 0.30% to 0.45%,” explained the president of the socialist association in a note sent to Lusa.
“After imposing a colossal tax increase, reminiscent of the austerity policies of Pedro Passos Coelho and his finance minister, Vítor Gaspar, the executive is now trying to ‘mend the situation’ by creating a set of fiscal benefits that only exist because it previously decided to brutally raise the base IMI rate,” stated Bruno Magro.
While acknowledging that the “measures partially mitigate the initial impact,” socialists believe that “thousands of families remain subject to increases that could reach 36%, when the executive initially intended to raise the tax by 50%”.
“The proposed benefits do not correct the root of the problem. They are patches on an increase that should never have existed. They create inequalities, do not eliminate fiscal injustice, and continue to penalize families in Oeiras, who face a challenging economic context,” they pointed out, advocating that “the municipality should have maintained the IMI at the legal minimum, protecting families and the local economy.”
