Miranda Sarmento answered the questions from the deputies in his debut as Minister of Finance in the hearings in the Budget, Finance and Public Administration Committee (COFAP), in parliament, as a result of a request from Chega.

"We are further reducing the 6th bracket, because the other brackets, up to the 5th, had already been reduced in the State Budget for 2024", he said.

The minister also defended that the PS's proposal to reduce IRS "can be deducted up to the 5th bracket", but "in monetary value it benefits the following brackets more".

"It is inevitable that any reduction in brackets will benefit the following brackets more in euros", he pointed out, stressing that "it has to do with the progressiveness of the tax".

The Government's proposal, approved by the Council of Ministers, contemplated a reduction in rates between 0.25 and three percentage points up to the 8th income bracket, with the largest decreases (three and 1.25 points) falling, respectively, on the 6th and 8th income brackets.

This Wednesday, during the biweekly debate with the Prime Minister, the leader of the PSD bench, Hugo Soares, announced that his party had presented a text to replace the Government's proposal, coming closer to what the PS, Chega and BE defend in terms of the rates that affect the brackets and the specific deduction, also recommending that the Government consider extending the deduction of the extension of the deduction of expenses on loans to buy a house.

With regard to the rates, the PSD proposes an additional reduction of 0.5 percentage points in those that affect the 3rd and 4th income brackets, which thus fall to 22% and 25%, respectively, that is, equal to what the PS defends.

Regarding the 6th bracket, the PSD argues that the rate should fall back to 35%, compared to the 34% proposed by the Government, and that the changes in this income bracket - which corresponds to gross salaries between around 2,200 euros and 3,100 euros - motivated strong criticism of the PS, which defends maintaining the rate of this bracket (36.5%).

With this project, the PSD also comes closer to the tax scheme defended by Chega, although the party led by André Ventura defends a steeper reduction in the rate of the 6th bracket (to 32%) and the 5th bracket (to 31.5%).

The other parties also presented different proposals for reducing IRS, having been lowered to the specialty, where they have been discussed.

The Minister of Finance today appealed for the parties to quickly reach an agreement on the proposals, guaranteeing the Government's willingness to negotiate, but arguing that the reduction should apply to all brackets up to the eighth.

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