The leader of the PS/Madeira, Sérgio Gonçalves, defended this Tuesday that the regional executive (PSD/CDS-PP) must complement, including tax reductions, the support measures announced by the Government of the Republic to mitigate the effects of inflation .
The Government of the Region must complement the measures of the Government of the Republic. The Regional Government has the obligation —and we Madeirans have the right, due to the autonomy we have— to reduce taxes, return rents and reduce the price of the goods and services we consume”, said the Madeiran socialist leader at a press conference in Funchal .
Sérgio Gonçalves highlighted the benefits of the package of measures announced on Monday by the Prime Minister to help families cope with rising prices in the current situation, exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine.
The official stressed that these measures “also benefit Madeirans, they are very important in the sense of increasing the disposable income of citizens and families and mitigating the increase in prices.”
As a whole, he added, they come “so that the Portuguese can face this increase in the cost of living with some help from the State, in this case from the Government of the Republic.”
However, said the socialist, the regional government is not using autonomy “to implement measures that complement those of the Republic and help Madeirans to cope with inflation and the increase in the cost of living that has been occurring for several years. months”.
The representative recalled that PS/Madeira “has been advocating for specific measures to deal with this price increase, namely the application of the 30% tax differential in VAT rates and at all levels of the IRS, a solution that the Regional Government has adopted. to adopt”.
In the Azores we have VAT rates of 4%, 9% and 16%, while in Madeira these rates are 5%, 12% and 22%. Only in the normal rate there is a difference of six percentage points between what Madeirans and Azoreans pay”, he said.
The president of the Madeiran Socialists added that “this measure would be very important to reduce the cost of living”, indicating that “in the case of the IRS, through the deployment of the levels enshrined in the State Budgets, there has already been a benefit for the Madeirans of the order of about nine million euros”.
Sérgio Gonçalves insisted that “the Regional Government has the possibility of applying the 30% differential at various levels where it is not yet a reality and, thus, directly and immediately increase the disposable income of Madeirans”.
In the opinion of the Socialists, the Madeiran executive, which “calls so much for more autonomy”, must use what the region already has, which is “a right of all Madeirans and Porto-Santenses and must, effectively, be an instrument that must use the Regional Government to improve the lives of all”.
Sérgio Gonçalves mentioned the various initiatives presented by the PS in favor of Madeira, including the one approved by the Assembly of the Republic and which establishes the integration in the Low Density Territories, allowing reduce corporate income tax rates in companies in the municipalities of the North Coast and Porto Santo.
In terms of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira, he recalled the proposals aimed at giving incentives to emigrants who return to the archipelago and who want to create their own businesses in these same territories, support for the rehabilitation of homes in rural areas and support for the hiring of young people. people to companies based in these areas.
Source: Observadora
