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Lusa - Business News - Portugal: Our tax proposal fairer, reaches more people - Socialist party
Lisbon, April 23, 2024 (Lusa) - Socialist parliamentary leader Alexandra Leitão said on Monday that the PS tax cut bill "has more tax justice, is more redistributive and reaches more people" than the government's proposal. "What you'll find in the bill is greater redistribution, greater relief for incomes between €1,000 and €2,500," Alexandra Leitão told a press conference in parliament. The PS parliamentary leader said her party would use the €348 million margin that the government presented in its bill for tax relief "in a much fairer way," adding that the Socialist proposal "has more tax justice, is more redistributive, and reaches more people." Asked how the PS would vote on the bill that will be considered in parliament on Wednesday, Alexandra Leitão began by saying that the PS, "as a responsible party", has presented this bill that complies with what is included in its electoral programme, namely the "reduction of personal income tax for the middle classes within the budgetary margin". "We also hope that our bill will be approved. Within this responsibility and within this expectation that we have, this question can also be returned to other parties, we are available for parliamentary debate and at the moment we are not going any further. We have a project. That's what we're essentially looking at," she replied. Present at the press conference was MP and former secretary of state for tax affairs António Mendonça Mendes, as well as MPs Carlos Pereira and Marina Gonçalves - who explained to journalists that the PS was "acting exactly within the margin defined by the government" of Luís Montenegro. "The government defined €348 million and what we're doing here is redistributing it so that between people earning between €1,000 and €2,500 gan the most. But there are still gains between €2,500 and €6,500 compared to what is in force, though these are smaller gains," he said. Asked about the statements made by the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, who said the day that the PS's form of income tax reduction gave "the absolutely wrong signal" by leaving out those earning more than €1,300, Alexandra Leitão began by replying that she hadn't heard them and therefore wouldn't comment on them. "The bill that is now being presented is exactly in line with what had been the change introduced by the PS government for the 2024 budget, i.e. to make larger reliefs in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th income brackets and to make smaller reliefs in the 6th and 7th brackets precisely to reach more people and people with incomes that are not just the lowest, we have now reached €2,500 and therefore incomes that can be considered average in Portugal," she said. The socialist considered that a margin defined by Luís Montenegro's government "falls far short of the scope of the measures taken by the PS government in the State Budget for 2024" and accused the government of "defrauding the expectations created by the AD during the campaign" and making choices that the PS does not agree with. In the PS's draft amendment, the Socialists maintain the rate for the 1st income bracket at 13%, but advocate a greater decrease (between 0.5 and 1.0 percentage point) in the following three brackets. "In view of the budget margin entered by the AD government, the Socialist Party, with this proposal, guarantees households with incomes between the 2nd and 4th brackets, which represent 1/3 of all households, a tax reduction that more than doubles that resulting from the government's proposal," it says. The Socialists also guarantee that their proposed amendment reduces "the tax burden in the 5th and 6th brackets, where around 10% of all households are located", pointing out that "the higher brackets benefit from the effect of the reduction in the rates of the lower brackets". JF/ADB // ADB. Lusa Agency : LUSA Date : 2024-04-24 10:57:00
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