“I understand why Chega agrees with this Budget, because it allocates public resources to those who finance Chega, the large economic groups. What I find hard to believe is how the PS is swayed by this rhetoric,” stated Paulo Raimundo to journalists during a walkabout in Setúbal.
Paulo Raimundo addressed the comments by the PS Secretary-General, José Luís Carneiro, who stated that in 99.9% of the Budget, “the Government met the demands” placed on the prime minister, expressing his disbelief.
“I couldn’t understand. If this specific Budget, with its negative consequences for the majority of the country, corresponds to 99.9% of the PS’s aspirations, I’m even more concerned,” he said.
Paulo Raimundo regarded the State Budget proposal submitted today by the Government to the Assembly of the Republic as “an example of the transfer of public resources to large economic groups.”
“It’s the tax benefits: another 1.8 billion euros. The public-private partnerships taking from our resources: another 1.4 billion euros. It’s the support for non-habitual residents who come here to buy our homes and buildings to rent: another 1.9 billion,” he listed.
The PCP Secretary-General argued that “the country will not move forward” in this way, emphasizing the need to “address the two million poor” in Portugal rather than spending “needed resources.”
Paulo Raimundo commented that, aside from the “marginally positive measures,” referring to the announcements made by the prime minister during the election campaign, such as reducing IRS or increasing the Solidarity Supplement for the Elderly (CSI), the “substance [of the State Budget] is profoundly negative.”
When asked about the Government’s announced tax cuts, Paulo Raimundo countered that “the greatest tax reduction in this State Budget is in the IRC.”
“Let’s put it this way: the Government proudly boasts of reducing IRS by 0.3% while reducing IRC by 1%. Why not do the opposite? That would be valuable. It’s a choice,” he criticized.
Regarding the Minister of Finance’s statement that “there’s no room for additional measures” in the State Budget, Paulo Raimundo remarked that such statements “reveal a path.”
“This State Budget is an instrument of the ongoing policy, and anyone associated with it will be held accountable for it,” he said.
Paulo Raimundo highlighted a shortage of doctors and nurses in the country, closed emergency rooms, a lack of “houses to live in,” and low wages and pensions, stressing that the State Budget provides “no response” to these issues.
“Even the National Health Service (SNS) budget, which is presented with an increase—and it indeed increases—but, again, half of that budget is to transfer to those groups making a business out of disease. This way doesn’t work,” he said.
