The PSD today challenged the PS to say whether or not it “will accept reducing taxes” and approve the proposal put forward by the Social Democrats or whether it intends to “continue using fiscal policy to fatten the state coffers”.
At a conference at the PSD’s national headquarters in Lisbon, party vice-president António Leitão Amaro detailed the outlines of the tax proposal presented on Monday by Luís Montenegro, considering that there is “a serious problem” in Portugal, with the Portuguese “paying too much tax”.
“But the PSD has a solution: lower taxes now, as part of a fundamental tax reform. The question that remains is: what is the PS doing? It has been announcing for years that it wants to cut taxes and the tax burden keeps going up. Will the PS accept this challenge or not?” asked Leitão Amaro, who was joined by the Social Democrat parliamentary leader, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento.
Miranda Sarmento said that the tax reduction proposal presented this Monday by the PSD leader will be implemented in five legislative initiatives, which will be discussed and voted on September 20 in the Assembly of the Republic, bearing in mind that the Social Democrats have scheduled a potestative (mandatory) debate for that date.
On that day, “it will become clear to the country whether the PS really wants to lower taxes for families or whether, on the contrary, it continues to be mired in politicking, excuses and using fiscal policy to increase the amount of revenue and to fatten the state coffers,” he said.
Asked about the criticism from the PS – who accuse the PSD of having made a “monumental shift” by now prioritizing a reduction in personal income tax over corporate income tax, contrary to what they proposed in their electoral program for the 2022 legislative elections – Miranda Sarmento alluded to the change in leadership in the PSD to point out that Montenegro has “his program” and, since he was elected, “has defended a reduction in taxes, particularly in terms of personal income tax”.
The Social Democrat parliamentary leader added that the PSD’s electoral program was drawn up in December 2021, when “inflation was around 1.5%”, recalling that last year this figure rose to 7.8%, which translated into an increase in “revenue in national accounts of 5.5 billion euros” and, in public accounts, of “around eight billion euros”.
“Therefore, there is a new circumstance here that was not expected at the time the parties made their electoral programs. (…) New circumstances naturally imply a change in policy and measures and, if this were not the case, it would not be the right way to govern and present proposals,” he said.
