An increase in the VAT rate on electricity to 6% for 3.4 million families was approved

The PS project to increase the volume of the reduced VAT rate on electricity of 6% for 3.4 million families was approved this Friday. SDP and SDS-PP voted against, while Chega abstained.

The ES project was discussed in Parliament this morning and once approved, a VAT rate of 6% will apply in 2025 “to the first 200 kWh of electrical energy consumed each month, doubling the current 100 kWh” and “in the case of large families it doubles from the current 150 kWh to 300 kWh per month.”

According to PS, the 6% VAT on electricity increases from 300,000 to more than three million households, and the estimated cost of the measure will be around 90 million euros.

Bills from IL, PAN, BE, PCP, Chega and Livre to reduce VAT on energy were also discussed, all of them were rejected, while only two resolutions from PAN and Livre were approved, which do not have the force of law.

At the start of the debate, PS’s Alexandra Leitão said the project would “have a direct impact on people’s budgets” and that the fight against energy poverty should be a public policy priority.

According to the parliamentary leader of the PS, this is a “socially fair” and “balanced, as well as financially responsible” initiative, noting that the calculations were carried out in the macroeconomic scenario of the party’s election program.

Alexandra Leitan stressed that this was the last of five measures that the PS leader had committed to at the start of the legislature, noting that the Socialists’ proposed expansion of student housing support had been broadly approved this week.

Despite votes against parties supporting the government, the next day the Council of Ministers announced support for the placement of displaced higher education students without a scholarship.

“What will the government do when it stops looking to the PS program for ideas,” he asked.

Already from the PSD, Hugo Patricio Oliveira accused the PS of not reacting to energy poverty when he was in government, and stressed that the PSD had presented proposals on this topic in the past and were rejected by the PS.

A Social Democratic MP called it a “simulacra of measures” during the election period.

“Let’s not use energy poverty as an excuse for the PS to want to legislate in the assembly what it did not want to legislate when it was government,” defended the SDP.

In his response, socialist Carlos Bras pointed out the lack of proposals from the PSD on this issue and wondered whether the PSD made the proposal because it did not “think about it” or because it was “traumatized” and feared that it will not be approved.

Regarding BE, Marisa Matias asked the PSD deputy if he also blames Rui Rio and Luis Montenegro for proposing a “simulacrum”, since they defended the idea in the past.

From Chega, Pedro Pinto asked about amendments to the budget that would allow the approved measures to be applied this year.

Paula Santos of the PCP emphasized that the PSD, PS and CDS-PP prevented the reduction of VAT on electricity, given that “they say one thing when they are in opposition, and when they are in government they say nothing.”

In response, Social Democrat Hugo Carneiro estimated that once fees for travel, IRS, student accommodation and VAT on electricity were eliminated, the costs would be around €2 billion, accusing the PS of “conditioning the formation of the state budget for 2025”. “.

From Livre, Jorge Pinto recalled that Portugal is the fifth country in Europe where people have the least economic conditions to heat their homes, and advocated a cross-cutting reduction in VAT on electricity to 6%.

CDS-PP’s Paulo Nuncio said the measure results in savings of about one euro on households’ monthly bills, which costs “no more than a cup of coffee”, while PAN deputy Ines Souza Real noted that “the fight against energy poverty must be cross-cutting a goal for all political forces in parliament.”