Parliament today approved in general terms the proposals of the PS, BE and PCP on the IRS and the requests for the Government's proposal, Chega and IL to be voted down to the specialty without a vote.

At the end of the votes, the parliamentary leader of the PSD, Hugo Soares, accused the PS of having shown itself "leaning towards an irreducible position" and refused the availability of its bench for both proposals to be voted down, ending up by joining in "negative coalitions" and allowing the viability of proposals from the left.

"There was an attitude of absolute irresponsibility on the part of the PS, an alliance between the PS and Chega (...) What happened was that the Chega party made the PS proposal viable, a party that was against the reduction of taxes", he accused.

Hugo Soares appealed for responsibility for the debate that will follow in the specialty.

"The Government governs and the parliament serves to improve the Government's proposals. I appeal for responsibility, full openness to dialogue and I sincerely hope that, in 15 days, the country can have a single text for a tax reduction", he said.

Asked if the discussion in the specialty could not lead to a diploma that distorts the executive's initial proposal, the deputy and secretary-general of the PSD said that "there is no government that, if it could, would not want to lower taxes further".

"We will see in the specialty, we are ready to dialogue, but as is evident, the PSD cannot and should not seek solutions that are not compatible with Portuguese reality", he warned.

The parliamentary leader of the PSD reiterated that the debate on the reduction of taxes "only happened because a Government that has been governing for 15 days brought a bill that aims to reduce taxes".

"A Government that does not have an absolute majority and that wanted to give a sign of great openness to dialogue, seeking to reach a real proposal and a consensus in the specialty with all parliamentary groups", he defended.

Of the various proposals that contemplate changes in the IRS presented by the various opposition parties and that were today debated and subject to a vote in general terms, only those subscribed by Livre and PAN were rejected.

The Government's proposal, which now goes down to the specialty, foresees an additional reduction between 0.25 and 3 percentage points in the rates that affect the 1st to 8th income brackets, with the largest reduction (3 percentage points) affecting the 6th bracket. In the 9th bracket, the rate remains unchanged.

According to the Government's accounts, this reduction translates into an additional tax relief of 348 million euros this year compared to what has been in force since January, to which will be added a reduction of 115 million euros in 2025, through the refund of IRS.

After a debate in which the opposition's accusations about the IRS reduction proposed by the Government were heard again, the deputies approved the PS project that defends steeper reductions in IRS rates on the lowest income brackets (between 1,000 and 2,500 euros gross per month).

The Bloco proposes increasing the value of specific deductions (on work and pensions) and the deduction of housing expenses to 360 euros, as well as eliminating the rule that prevents people with a housing loan taken out after 2011 from benefiting from this deduction.

The initiative of the communists insists on the mandatory inclusion of income subject to special and withholding taxes, such as rents, capital gains or interest, for those who are at the top of the brackets, also proposing an increase in the specific deduction and its update according to the IAS, the reduction of the rates that affect the first two brackets and the increase of those that affect the highest income brackets. A new one is also created for incomes over 250 thousand euros per year, with a rate of 56%.

The Chega project, on the other hand, proposes a more substantial reduction in tax rates up to the 8th bracket -- leaving only the 9th unchanged, which corresponds to the highest income bracket.

The Iniciativa Liberal proposes increasing the specific deduction (the 'discount' that is automatically attributed to income from work and pensions), reducing tax rates (considering only two levels) and sets the minimum of existence at the value equivalent to 14 national minimum wages at the current value (820 euros).

[News updated at 8:25 p.m.]

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