Liberal initiative bets on tax cuts to raise revenue

Liberal Initiative (IL) president Rui Rocha confirmed the party’s tax cut proposals in Setúbal on Tuesday when faced with the possibility of a general 15% wage increase proposed by the CGTP and PCP.

“The perspective of the liberal initiative is very clear: the first step to building a different country, to putting more money in the pockets of the Portuguese, is to significantly reduce taxes, namely the personal income tax (IRS), so that people do not have to face such difficulties at the end of the month,” Rui said Rocha.

The IL leader, who spoke to reporters during a visit to the Livramento market in Setúbal, also defended the abolition of the municipal real estate transfer tax (IMT) and the reduction of income tax, as well as the reduction of the Corporate Income Tax (IRC) and the abolition of the state surcharge for companies.

“We know there is a housing crisis and so when there is a housing crisis and prices are so high, having taxes like BMI that penalize people buying homes is undesirable. We propose the abolition of BMI. We are also proposing a significant reduction in rental tax because we want more owners to list their properties for sale so that those looking for a rental solution can find more homes to rent,” he explained.

“And we also have an idea that is very much aimed at companies. The signal being given to companies in Portugal today is that they should not grow because the IRC is a progressive tax. And we have a clear proposal: we want a low IRC, uniform and we want to abolish the government surcharge so that we have more companies to grow, so that more companies can settle in Portugal, so that there is competition for workers and therefore wages grew because wages are not increased by decree. It increases in a functioning economy,” he added.

During a visit to the Livramento market, Rui Rocha recalled that a few months ago he had already been to a market recognized as one of the best in the world, and that today he “feels that things have gotten even worse since then.” .

“This tells us that we have no more time to waste. We must change the country. Change the government first, but change the government in order to change the country. Same solutions or similar solutions [às do passado], they are not solutions that can solve problems. We really have to change the country,” he stressed.

Rui Rocha, already known to some vendors at the Livramento market, was trying to figure out how to open Setúbal’s oysters, but admitted that at the moment it seemed “easier to win over voters for the Liberal Initiative.”