The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, said this Sunday that he had already decided to launch the Mais Habitação program, but left the announcement for Monday morning.
“I signed today [este domingo] even various diplomas I had to sign, and I made decisions that I had to make. On the other hand, of course, what I had to explain on different diplomas is being explained,” the head of state said upon his arrival in Warsaw on a two-day official visit.
Asked if he spoke with Prime Minister António Costa about the reasons that led him to make a certain decision, keeping the taboo until Monday, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa recalled that the Mais Habitação program includes a set of diplomas from the government, as well as from the Assembly of the Republic. In this case, he explained, he must justify himself to António Costa and Parliament Speaker Augusto Santos Silva.
On Friday, the President of the Republic has already announced that the decision will be announced only at the beginning of the week.
The Mais Habitação program was approved in the final global vote on July 19 in Parliament, with the PS bench only voting for a legislative package that moves forward with changes to lease, licensing or local residence conditions.
PSD, Chega, Iniciativa Liberal, PCP and BE voted against, while Livre and PAN chose to abstain on the last day of voting when opposition parties were still calling for proposals to change this package, but ended up failing again as it happened by specialty.
After the diploma was sent to the Belém Palace, there were many expectations as to what Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa would do with this proposal. The President of the Republic in the past few days has been answering questions from journalists from the beach where he is on holiday in the Algarve, always keeping his decision open.
The only doubt that Marcelo Rebelo de Souza dismissed was the possibility of sending the diploma to the Constitutional Court, adding that he would not do so, but would leave the veto in place on the day when the deadline for appealing to the judges of the Constitutional Court expired. The palace is over.
Mais Habitação provides for, among other things, exemption from taxation of capital gains for owners who sell homes to the state, the cessation of new golden visas, an increase in the deduction for each dependent under the Family IMI, changes to a self-contained rate of income from property, and tax incentives for owners who are moving their homes out of local housing by the end of 2024.
In the local accommodation sector, an emergency contribution and suspension of registration of new housing outside low-density areas (especially inland), controversial and contested measures such as the forced rental of houses that have been empty for more than two years, have also been approved.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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