In a press conference at the Assembly of the Republic, the socialist deputy António Mendonça Mendes defended that the reduction of the IRS in July does not depend on the admission of the PSD's proposal in the Budget and Finance Committee on Wednesday, contradicting the appeals made this morning by the PSD.

Mendonça Mendes said he had "great difficulty in understanding what might be voted on tomorrow", expressing the hope that the negotiation will extend "within the parliamentary deadline that ends on May 31".

The discussion of the tax relief proposals, he continued, "is not incompatible with the entry into force on July 1 because the withholding tax table will depend only on a government dispatch".

"Therefore, if there is parliamentary consensus, as the PS wishes, the Government has all the conditions to issue this dispatch in time to enter into force on July 1", he argued.

The deputy said he was sure that the "PSD wants an agreement on the IRS" and, therefore, will make "an effort for a parliamentary negotiation" that "is not a negotiation of established facts".

The PS insisted that the substitute text presented by the PSD is "unilateral" and does not result from a negotiation effort between all parties. The socialists have already made concessions, "but there is still no consensus", said the vice-president of the PS parliamentary bench.

The former Secretary of State for Tax Affairs stressed that the PS has been approaching the proposal of the social democrats and centrists, but "there seems to be" a defense of the "reduction of marginal rates in the highest echelons", without taking into account greater justice in terms of redistribution.

"What distances the Government's position and the AD's position from that of the PS is that the Government continues to insist that 50% of the available budgetary margin be distributed to the 10% of people who receive the most, which seems to us is not balanced", he added.

The social democrats' proposal, the socialists argue, aims for something "truly unfair". The PS wants to guarantee that, for example, those who earn 1,500 euros per month have an additional annual gain of 131 euros, a value "above what AD is proposing, which is 92 euros".

PSD and CDS-PP today challenged PS and Chega to clarify their positions on the IRS reduction on Wednesday and to allow an IRS reduction already "in July or August", leaving the "partisan games".

In a press conference, the parliamentary leaders of the two parties that support the Government, Hugo Soares (PSD) and Paulo Núncio (CDS-PP), presented a substitute text for the executive's proposal - which was lowered to the specialty without a vote - and which they want to see admitted on Wednesday in the Budget and Finance Committee and voted in plenary on Friday, in general, specialty and final global vote.

Hugo Soares asked the parties not to hide in procedural expedients to postpone the vote on the admission of the PSD/CDS-PP substitute text in the Budget and Finance Committee, scheduled for Wednesday at 10:00.

"I want to challenge the parties not to hide in the budget committee, to admit the text and vote on it, in whatever way, on Friday in plenary", he challenged.

Read Also: "We advise the Government not to rush the IRS vote", says Ventura (Portuguese version) (Portuguese version)

Read Also: "We advise the Government not to rush the IRS vote", says Ventura (Portuguese version) (Portuguese version)