Ventura challenges PSD to downgrade proposals on the Government’s IRS and Chega – Politics

This Wednesday, Chega’s president challenged the PSD to downgrade the Government’s and his party’s IRS proposals to reach an agreement that provides for greater tax relief at the lowest levels.

Speaking to journalists in parliament, André Ventura said that, this Tuesday, he contacted the PSD parliamentary leader, Hugo Soares, to convey to him that Chega is not comfortable with the Government’s proposal, “as it benefits those who earn more and not those who earn less”, but does not want to create “a problem for governance in such a sensitive matter”.

“We suggested to the PSD that it send the two proposals to the commission without a vote, at least the two proposals. It was a suggestion that I made because we would not waste time, since it is possible to bring urgency to the specialty process”, he said.

André Ventura highlighted that Chega is only available to submit proposals to the specialty if there are guarantees from the Government that, in the commission, work will be done “on the two or three levels that are at the initial base of the pyramid, allowing those who earns 1,000, 1,500 or 2,000 euros and benefits more than it is.”

The leader of Chega said that, so far, he has not yet received any response from the PSD, despite stating that they are “in talks”, and added that he understands that the Minister of Finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, has to “do the calculations and re-equating what it will mean to change the levels”.

Asked whether, in this case, the PS proposal would be left out, André Ventura said that this “is relatively indifferent, what there needs to be is a guarantee that the Government will not go down to the specialty just to save time”

“To go down to the specialty there must be a prior agreement that we will work on those lower levels to ensure that people will pay less taxes, it is not going down to the specialty to force the vote”, he stated.

If the Government “remains inflexible”, André Ventura advised it to do “two things: either reach an understanding with the PS, or withdraw the proposal because, otherwise, it could very easily not pass through parliament”.

The leader of Chega claimed that he made this proposal to the PSD to ensure that “there is no embarrassment today for the Government” and also so that his party is not “forced to vote on a proposal that theoretically it would not really like to make, which is the of the PS”.

“I challenge the PSD to say whether it accepts going down to the specialty to change the levels, it is not to force a vote on the specialty. The Government now has to say whether it accepts to do this or not”, he stated.

This Tuesday, André Ventura had admitted voting against the Government’s proposal to reduce marginal IRS rates and make the PS’s viable, claiming that it is closer to his.

In a press conference at the Assembly of the Republic, André Ventura said that he had not received “from the Government, nor from the PSD parliamentary bench, any negotiation, proposal, counter-proposal or opening in relation to the change in tax legislation” and accused the executive and social democrats to demonstrate arrogance, warning that “it will not lead to good results in the future”.