Luis Montenegro accuses the government of “suffocating” the Portuguese with taxes

SDP President Luis Montenegro said this Saturday that society is “suffocated by taxes” and state contributions received “in exchange for the failure of all major public policies, from health to education, from justice to security.”

The Social Democrat leader claims that Portugal is losing more quality of life and wealth than between 2011 and 2015, accusing the government of not taking advantage of the “opportunities” it had before.

“With incredible conditioning, we managed [entre 2011 e 2015]in spite of all this, not to lose as much quality of life and well-being as has been lost in recent years,” said Luis Montenegro, speaking during the celebration of the 49th anniversary of the party, which took place in the monastery of San Francisco in Coimbra.

For a social democratic leader, the country is “losing the most important thing”, namely everyday well-being and quality of life, given that during the “troika” period, when the SDP led the coalition with the SDS-PP, this loss could be “sustained” during “truly intense and dramatic social hardships.”

Luis Montenegro stressed that in the period from 2011 to 2015, it was possible, despite the crisis experienced by the country, to ensure “access to health care, education, access to what is fundamental in life – food, energy, mobility.”

In 2012 and 2013, the unemployment rate reached over 15% (currently around 6%), the minimum wage was below 500 euros, and the National Institute of Statistics’ global welfare index (which combines indices of living conditions and quality of life) was 33 .9 in 2011 and 39 in 2015, and 45.7 in 2021 (latest available data).

Luis Montenegro stressed that the government “cannot take advantage of the opportunities it has to transform them into development and quality of life” for the Portuguese.

“We are very poor in statistics,” he criticized.