Parliament approved a zero VAT rate for a basket of 44 products

The government’s proposal to exempt a basket of 44 foodstuffs from VAT was approved this Thursday in Parliament with positive votes from the PS, Chega and the Liberal Initiative.

The measure, which is scheduled to enter into force on April 18, received no votes against, the PSD, PKP, BE, PAN and Livre chose to abstain.

Proposals to amend the PKP, which had already been rejected in the specialty, but which the Communists called for this Thursday to be voted on in the plenary, were rejected.

The VAT exemption on the basket of essential goods will be valid from April 18 to October 31, and in order to speed up the process and after the proposal of the PS, MPs unanimously approved the rejection of the final version.

The final text of the proposal, approved today in the final global vote, includes some changes to the proposal that the government has sent to parliament, as the specialty discussion approved proposals from BE and PAN, which add plant-based drinks to the list and one from PDS for dietary products. intended for enteral nutrition.

During a vote held on Tuesday at the Commission on Budget and Finance, PSD also approved a proposal to add fermented milk products to the dairy category.

The remaining proposals submitted by PCP, BE, PAN, PSD, Chega and Livre were rejected, with the PCP calling for a vote in plenary today on a proposal to lower VAT on energy to 6% and on telecommunications to 6%. and the regime of control, and price cuts – and again a failure.

In the debate leading up to the vote, during which various parties criticized the government’s measure, Duarte Alves, a PKP deputy, said that it did not have a mechanism in place to guarantee price reductions for the end consumer.

“There is no certainty that the Portuguese will benefit from this reduction,” PSD’s Hugo Carneiro said for his part, criticizing the “completely atypical” situation where the government chooses foods that it considers important in eating.

Regarding PAN, Inés Sousa Real expressed regret that PS blocked the listing of plant-based protein and pet food products, while Livre accused the government of being in a “fazad” that prices would come down without including anything in the offer to guarantee it.

In response to the criticism, PS’s Hugo Costa said that “economic history shows” that price fixing leads to empty shelves and tariff deficits, and highlighted the changes made during the specialty discussion.

Taking “economic history”, Bloco de Esquerda’s Mariana Mortagua made a different reading, stating that she talks about “price controls are a way of controlling inflation” and deplored the government going “in the face” and believe that the price reduction will happen.

Chega’s Andre Ventura also addressed The Economic History, mentioning that it shows that price fixing leads to empty shelves, but that price controls are not the same as profit controls, as his party proposed.

For Livre, João Cotrim Figueiredo referred to the fact that the list of products, despite the changes, remains “arbitrary” and reveals the “paternalistic nature of the state”.