Chega admits voting against the Government’s proposal on lowering the IRS and making the PS’s viable

The president of Chega admitted this Tuesday that his party could vote 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”.

The president of Chega said he had made institutional contacts that had received “no response so far”.

Asked whether he could vote against the Government’s proposal, the Chega leader stated that “there is this risk”.

Regarding whether the PS bill could be made viable, he replied: “If [a proposta] is positive, we admit it, if it reduces taxes, we admit it”.

“At this moment we admit everything, because we want to lower taxes”, he stated, arguing that the Portuguese “don’t want to know” by which parties the measure was approved.

The president of Chega said it was “bizarre and caricatured that the Chega and PS proposal have more objectives in common than the AD Government’s proposal”, indicating that his party and the socialists “seek to reduce taxes on those who earn less “, while the Government’s proposal “seems to go in the opposite direction, wanting to benefit those who earn more”.

“Chega will fight for the proposal that lowers taxes for the Portuguese to be approved. And I want to make it very clear to the Government, there is nothing holding us back. If we feel that there is a proposal that lowers taxes further, we will make it viable too,” he warned.

André Ventura asked the Government to “come down from the pedestal and realize that it has to negotiate and for the right to come up with a proposal to lower taxes on those who earn less, and not on those who earn more”.

The Chega leader wants the executive to change its proposal to “guarantee that the impact in the 1,000, 1,500 and 2,000 euro brackets is the highest” and “stop doing favors for the richest, which they don’t need”.

“I hope there is common sense on the part of the Government by the end of today so that we can reach a more approximate proposal that will benefit above all those who earn up to 2,000 euros gross, which is the vast majority of the Portuguese people”, he appealed.

On Monday, when he presented his proposal, André Ventura said that he would seek to “reach some consensus” with the AD, from whom he asked for “a sign of good will”, and indicated that, “if there is total unavailability, either of PSD, whether PS” to approve its proposal, the party would abstain, justifying that Chega would not be the one to “prevent them from lowering taxes”.

A few days earlier, on Friday, the leader of Chega had admitted voting in favor of the Government’s proposal if no other diploma more favorable to taxpayers could be approved.

Today, he explained that at the time “there was no other proposal, today there is another proposal”.

On Friday, the PSD/CDS-PP Government approved a bill to reduce marginal IRS rates for all brackets, with the exception of the 9th, which applies to annual taxable income above 81,199 euros. This proposal will be considered in parliament on Wednesday.

Chega proposes that income up to one thousand euros be exempt from IRS and that there be a “readjustment of brackets” to benefit those earning up to two thousand euros.

The PS proposal maintains the rate for the 1st income bracket at 13%, but aims for a greater decrease (between 0.5 and 1.0 percentage points) in the following three brackets.