PSD confirms its readiness to cooperate with PS by IRS Jovem

This Monday, the SDP re-entered negotiations with the government on a 15- or 20-year IRS commitment for young people, insisting on housing, tax or education proposals already rejected by the socialist majority.

The SDP parliamentary group presented this Monday in Parliament its five priorities for the state budget for 2024, the government’s proposal presented on Tuesday, and among them the increase in family incomes, while a measure has already been presented to create a minimum IRS rate for young people. people under 35, “except for the last group”, in order to “reduce the current taxation of young people by two thirds.”

Asked whether the conditions exist to reach an understanding with the PS on this issue (a challenge that was already raised by PSD President Luis Montenegro in September), Miranda Sarmento replied that the party would like to have agreements with the Socialists “on various issues.” “, namely in this sentence.

“If we could reach an agreement with PS on an IRS treatment for youth close to what we advocate, but with that agreement in place for 15 or 20 years, young people going to college or leaving today would know that “In the first 10 or 15 years of his career, there was an IRS regime that would have been very attractive and would have helped to retain and attract a lot of the talent being generated in Portugal,” he said.

Miranda Sarmento stressed that the party president has already abandoned the challenge and that until now “the government has never accepted it,” but the PSD remains “ready to negotiate.”

Asked that many of the 12 measures presented this Monday have already been rejected by the socialist majority in parliament, Miranda Sarmento replied that the party continues to understand that these are measures “that the country needs” and that is why it will insist on them, “no matter how many times they fail in this parliament, as long as there is an absolute majority of the PS.”

The Social Democrats propose cutting the IRS by 1,200 million euros to level 8. This proposal was presented in September and indicates that “the cuts are differentiated and particularly significant for the middle class from level 2 to 6”.

The PSD’s second priority is to increase the productivity of the economy, proposing in this context a tax exemption on productivity bonuses of up to 6% of annual basic remuneration and a reduction in the IRC from 21% to 19%.

In the housing sector, the SDP once again proposes a program to support the purchase of a first home for young people with a state guarantee, as well as a “transitional program to reduce taxation of the real estate sector, namely a reduction in VAT on construction to 6% and some exceptions in relation to IMT and IMI” – measure , about which Miranda Sarmento said the government was open to negotiations.

The PSD also proposes “a temporary arrangement for fixing the premium at that year’s April value, up to a maximum of five years, and deferring the payment of excess interest not accruing to the final five years of the loan or, if possible, by increasing maturity.”

Regarding health care, the Social Democrats propose providing a family doctor to all Portuguese, guaranteeing until then “access to a physician assistant, using additional contracts or partnerships with the social and private sector when necessary”, as well as direct contracts with public, social and the private sector to “end waiting lists” that exceed clinically acceptable limits for consultations, operations or additional tests.

In the education sector, the SDP insists on phased payment of teachers’ work experience over five years with an allocation of 20% each year, the creation of an IRS deduction for living expenses for teachers who travel outside the home zone of more than 70 kilometers. and “increasing credit hours to support particularly struggling students.”

Asked about the agreement signed on Saturday by Prime Minister António Costa and the social partners, excluding the CGTP and the CIP, Miranda Sarmento expressed concern about the fact that the CIP was not taken into account, recalling that the CGTP “traditionally does not sign these agreements” .

“We are sorry that the agreement is in fact partial. (…) In any case, there are some positive measures, such as an increase in the national minimum wage, the possibility of exemption from the IRS and the unified social tax. (TSU) bonuses for productivity, although with the condition that they depend, among other things, on increases,” he said.