Liberal Initiative (IL) President Rui Rocha said this Sunday that the VAT cut on basic foodstuffs is delayed, stressing that the measure was proposed by the party in the 2023 state budget.
“When [a IL] presented its draft budget for 2023, this measure has already been included. We believe that this is not a measure that solves problems, obviously in itself, but another help that could have been given to the Portuguese a long time ago, at the time of the great tribulation that we all know. And so this particular measure is coming late,” Rui Rocha said.
The IL leader spoke to reporters in Fatima, on the sidelines of the 2nd National Assembly of Territorial Cores and the 3rd National Assembly of Mayors, mentioning that the party will see “now how it will be done, because the government of António Costa has already accustomed the country” to announcements, which are unlikely to materialize later.
According to the MP, “what is happening is that the Portuguese are paying more than necessary for a set of goods, namely essential goods”, and “this relief could help the Portuguese meet the end of the month with more confidence.” .”
The government will cut VAT on essential goods, Finance Minister Fernando Medina said on Friday, setting a zero rate on a basket of essential goods.
It was also announced that civil servants will have a new 1% pay increase and an increase in the food subsidy this year.
On this occasion, it also became known that this year the executive branch will allocate support for agricultural production in the amount of 140 million euros, so that producers can cope with the increase in production costs.
On that day, as a first reaction to the government’s measures, the IL president declared that they constituted a “budget amendment”, accusing the socialist executive of “giving with one hand what he had taken with two over the past few months” , and insisted that “explicit tax cuts”.
With regard to the support of 140 million euros, Rui Rocha said this Sunday that “Portuguese farmers are well aware of the promises made and then of the inability, namely the Ministry of Agriculture, to fulfill and implement the programs presented”, noting that in the Development Program rural areas “need to meet $1,300 million because the government can’t put money into the economy.”
Rui Rocha also considered that it was a “complex of individual measures”, recalling that IL “has already made proposals to the state budgets twice in terms of lowering the IRS, namely for the lowest levels, and what is happening is that the Portuguese systematically, month after month, day after day, week after week, extremely high taxes are being paid.”
“This is the result of this excess tax collection that the government is now using for this,” he stressed, noting that “there is no point in the government taking all the Portuguese from the pockets and then returning them when necessary.” understands how he understands and when he wants,” he said, however, acknowledging that “there must be direct support for those who, in fact, have no income and those who need it most.”
According to Rui Rocha, “this assistentialist vision is not the vision advocated by the Liberal Initiative”.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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