In a press conference in the Assembly of the Republic, André Ventura said he had not received "from the Government, nor from the PSD parliamentary bench, any negotiation, proposal, counterproposal or openness regarding the alteration of tax legislation" and accused the executive and the social democrats of demonstrating 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 not had "any response until now".

Asked if he might vote against the Government's proposal, the leader of Chega stated that "there is that risk".

About whether he might make the PS's bill viable, he replied: "If [the proposal] is positive, we admit it, if it reduces taxes, we admit it".

"At this moment we admit everything, because what we want is to lower taxes", he stated, arguing that the Portuguese "do not want to know" by which parties the measure was approved.

The president of Chega said it is "bizarre and caricature-like that the proposal from Chega and from the PS have more objectives in common than the proposal from the AD government", indicating that his party and the socialists "seek to reduce taxes on those who earn the least", while the Government's proposal "seems to go in the opposite direction, of wanting to benefit those who earn the most".

"Chega will fight so that the proposal that lowers taxes for the Portuguese the most is approved. And I want to make it very clear to the Government, there is nothing that binds us. If we feel that there is a proposal that lowers taxes more, we will make that viable as well", he warned.

André Ventura asked the Government to "come down from its pedestal and realise that it has to negotiate and that the right arrives at a proposal to lower taxes for those who earn the least, and not for those who earn the most".

The leader of Chega wants the executive to alter its proposal to "guarantee that the impact that there is on the brackets of 1,000, 1,500 and 2,000 euros is the highest" and "stop doing favours for the richest, who do not need them".

"I hope that there is good sense on the part of the Government by the end of today so that we can arrive at a more approximate proposal that benefits 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 try to "reach some consensus" with the AD, from whom he asked "a sign of good will", and indicated that, "in case there is total unavailability, either from the PSD or from the PS" to approve his proposal, the party would abstain, justifying that Chega would not be the one to "prevent taxes from being lowered".

A few days before, on Friday, the leader of Chega had admitted to voting in favour of the Government's proposal if no other bill more favourable to taxpayers could be approved.

Today, he justified 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 the marginal IRS rates of all brackets, with the exception of the 9th, which applies to annual taxable incomes above 81,199 euros. This proposal will be assessed in parliament on Wednesday.

Chega proposes that incomes up to one thousand euros should be exempt from IRS and that there should be a "readjustment of the brackets" to benefit those who earn up to two thousand euros.

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

Read Also: "Bizarre" and "gross lack of shame". Ventura attacks AD and PS (Portuguese version)