Pedro Nuno says the measures announced by the government cost “ten times more” than the PS measures.

The PS secretary general said Thursday that the measures already announced by the government cost “10 times more” than those presented by his party and announced by the President of the Republic, rejecting the Prime Minister’s criticism.

At a press conference at the PS national headquarters in Lisbon, Pedro Nuno Santos said he was “following with great interest what the PSD leaders say about the reports” on the measures taken on Tuesday by the President of the Republic after the Prime Minister said they would have a “financial impact” and called on Chega and the Socialists to clarify where they intend to cut their funding.

“The measures that the PS presented in the Assembly of the Republic do not reach 300 million euros per year. It is very important that we know this, because the measures that the government has already presented and announced – those that have a known budgetary impact – already amount to 2.9 billion euros,” the PS leader said.

The document distributed by PS to journalists indicated that the measures to abolish the toll in the former GKUT, reduce VAT on electricity, increase tax deductions or expand the student dormitory would cost $280 million euros. These reports did not exclude the IRS cuts, also presented by PS and made public by the president.

According to the document, the measures announced by the government, such as IRS Jovem, the reduction of the IRC, support for Ukraine or the termination of the emergency contribution for local accommodation, will have a total value of 2.910 million euros.

“We are talking about a set of measures that are ten times greater than those presented by the PS,” the PS Secretary General emphasized.

Pedro Nuno Santos explained to journalists that in the total cost of the PS measures he had not taken into account the reduction of the IRS, which costs around 460 million euros, arguing that his party had only decided to present an initiative on the issue because the government had made progress in drafting a proposed law on the issue, which had “exactly the same meaning”, but which the Socialists considered unfair.

“If the PS had not presented any bill, the budget expenditure of 460 million euros would have remained,” the Socialist Secretary General said.

Pedro Nuno Santos, who was already asked if he thinks that the government should now apply the IRS reduction announced by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, recalled that the initiative “comes into force on January 1, 2025, so that there is no violation of the brake rule”, so that for it to come into force from 2024, it must “depend on the government’s decision”.

“It is therefore very important that the Portuguese know that the IRS cuts in 2024 will not happen unless the Portuguese government wants them to,” he said, reiterating that he sees “no reason why the government does not revise the income tax tables already this year and that the cuts cannot be reflected already in 2024.”

Asked about the statements made by the Minister of Infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz, who this Wednesday considered that the abolition of tolls on the former SCUT was unfair, arguing that all tolls should be reduced, Pedro Nuno Santos said that he remains expecting “the government to present a proposal to reduce tolls in the rest of the country.”

The PS leader also said that a “differentiated approach” to tolls was justified, stressing that it was impossible “to pretend that mobility is the same on the coast or in the interior” and that there were areas inside the country where “there is no public transport and the car takes on greater importance.”

“Therefore, for reasons of national solidarity, this measure is fair and makes sense, and that is why we have adopted it with great pride,” he stressed.