Chega criticizes the government’s “fiscal measures” but may vote for them if that’s the only way to cut taxes.

This Friday, President Chegi classified the proposal to lower the IRS presented by the government as a “fiscal patch”, but due to “parliamentary arithmetic” he admits that he is voting for it unless another diploma that is more beneficial for taxpayers is approved.

Speaking to reporters, Andre Ventura confirmed that next week the party will present its own proposal, which he estimates at “effective tax breaks of between 750 and one billion euros”, and called on the PS to vote on it, saying it would be equally affordable . approve the initiatives of other parties.

“This is one of those measures that I don’t care whether there are positive or negative coalitions, we are talking about the Portuguese having more money in their wallets, I don’t care who votes for it,” he said.

Having not yet met with his parliamentary group, Ventura considered it “most likely” that Chega would abstain from the government proposal, which will be discussed next Wednesday, but did not rule out voting for it.

“It is not Chega who will prevent tax cuts in Portugal (…) If the PS votes against, there must be a vote in favor, such a scenario could happen. It is very unlikely that Chega will be left with the burden of making this unworkable proposal,” he said.

André Ventura began by criticizing the government proposal approved this Friday by the Council of Ministers, which he considers “not a financial relief, but a fiscal correction.”

“If it’s a budget fix, it becomes a financial disappointment. Both AD and Chega had the required number of votes, based on the premise of a real financial shock and the return of effective income this year,” he said.

Ventura calculated that for a salary of a thousand euros, the tax savings would be 1.5 euros, and even in cases where there are large benefits in relation to the PS cuts already in place, he said the difference would be about 8 euros per person. month.

“We give the PS the argument that there was no alternative policy. We cannot be satisfied because this is not what was promised, this is a lie, this is not what the Portuguese were told,” he said.

However, because he does not want to block the government’s proposal without an alternative, Chega has committed to presenting a diploma with cuts at eight levels of the IRS (as well as the executive branch), but with cuts “never less than five or ten.” Euro”.

“The most appropriate option would be if Chega presents his counter proposal: I heard the PS Secretary General say that this financial assistance is not enough, then we will discuss effective tax incentives in plenary,” he challenged, saying that he could also vote for a possible diploma from the socialists, “if it is better” than Chega’s.

This Friday, the Council of Ministers approved the PSD/CDS-PP government’s proposal to reduce IRS rates to level 8, indicating that this measure represents a total tax reduction of 1.539 million euros compared to 2023.

Luis Montenegro said that the additional reduction in marginal rates will apply to all groups up to 8th.

According to the government presentation, the cumulative decline will be more than three percentage points (pp) in grades 2 and 3, 3 pp. between 4th and 6th grades and 0.5 and 0.25 p.p. in 7th and 8th grades.