The government will take into account the profits of hypermarkets and supermarkets over the past four years

This is the big news of the two-day discussion of the state budget as a whole, which culminated this Thursday in the approval by PS votes with PAN and Livre abstaining: it is about creating a 33% tax on windfall and extraordinary profits of distribution companies.

According to CMThe government will calculate the profits of hypermarkets and supermarkets over the past four years, make an average and tax anything that this year is 20% over that figure.

This measure will not be budgeted for and will be in line with a European Union regulation that will apply this rate to the energy sector. The main concern of the government is how to prevent large-scale distribution from passing this tax on the prices of goods sold in hypermarkets.

This Thursday, the Portuguese Association of Distribution Companies (APED) said it was “surprised” by the measure. “What we’ve been seeing lately is rising prices due to inflation and increasing factor costs,” said Gonzalo Lobo Javier, referring to a recent study “which explains that companies in general, but retail in in particular, they do not pass on to the final consumer an increase in the cost of production factors in the same proportion as their growth.

However, in his speech, the finance minister declined that it was an austerity budget. “How can you tell the truth about austerity policies? Can not. It cannot, because it will be four years of increases, four years of obligations, four years of income stability,” the minister said.

Economy Minister Costa Silva assured that by the end of this year, exports should account for 49% of gross domestic product and that “the economy is not only tourism.” A government official was dissatisfied with the performance of the Banco de Fomento.

PSD talks about tricks, propaganda and illusions
“If PS over the past 30 years had managed as well as tricks, propaganda and illusions, Portugal would have been the richest country in Europe,” PSD parliamentary leader Miranda Sarmento said this Thursday.

DETAILS
political crisis
António Costa recalled that a year ago the political crisis arose as a result of the vote on the budget as a whole, and defended that now it arose as a result of the same vote “good instrument”.

4.8 million in Yu. Sots.
Minister Ana Mendez Godinho said 4.8 million workers are part of a social security system that guarantees higher contributions.

Marcelo and Flexibility
The President of the Republic defended that the State budget should be flexible and predicted that execution would be more difficult than previous budgets, given the unpredictability of the situation.

The surplus was given for the payment of assistance in the amount of 125 euros
Until September, the state recorded a budget surplus of 5.2 billion euros, the Ministry of Finance announced on Thursday. It was this “pillow” that paid for the “Family First” program with the distribution of 125 euros to those who had a gross income of up to 2,700 euros per month in 2021, plus 50 euros for each child, as well as the “Energy for Development” program. a program announced in September and largely implemented in October.

Tax and fee revenues increased by 16.6% compared to the same period in 2021 (15.7% compared to 2019), mainly due to the contribution of tax revenues (20%), in particular VAT refunds (+20.7 %). Compared to the same period in 2019, tax revenues increased by 15.2%. Spending on the National Health Service increased 6.2% year on year, with a focus on the purchase of goods and services.