Luís Montenegro regretted this Tuesday that the Government had not listened to the PSD when it decided to proceed with the application of zero VAT to a set of identified products. For the Social Democratic leader, who took advantage of the day of the formal entry into force of the measure to visit the Mercado da Brandoa, in Lisbon, reality has shown that the initiative of the Socialist Executive will be merely “symbolic” and “insufficient”.
“I warned that it was not possible to give people expectations. Price changes are non-existent. It is not there that citizens will have more means to live a more dignified life”, lamented the Social Democratic leader, accusing António Costa and Fernando Medina of creating “two countries”: the country of the “powerpoint that appears with pompous numbers” and the ” real world”. “Unfortunately, I did,” he added.
During the visit to the Brandoa Market, which the Observer accompanied, Montenegro was asked several times about the effects of applying zero VAT. In response, he heard that suppliers had not yet reflected the new prices, or testimonials that, in some cases, certain products suffered a price increase precisely on the eve of the entry into force of the measure.
For Montenegro, reality has shown that the PSD was right and that this government is implementing an “incorrect” fiscal policy. Alternatively, the Social Democratic leader insisted, it was important that there be a reduction in the IRS to return purchasing power to workers. “If there is a decrease in taxes on earned income, people who earn less and those in the middle class will have more purchasing power to meet their expenses,” Montenegro concluded.
Source: Observadora
