In the captivations he preferred the metaphor of comparing (2024 and 2025) apples with pears so as not to compare apples with oranges. In criticizing IL for not including the promised measures in the electoral program, he opted for the saying “you can’t put Rossio on Rua da Betesga.” Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, Minister of Finance, in an interview with CNN Portugal again pressured the PS not to distort the budget project.
Recalling that the measures will only be approved if one of the two major parties (PSD or PS) votes in favor, the Minister of Finance appealed to the meaning he sees in the words of Pedro Nuno Santos not to promise to distort the budget balance in terms of specialty .
“And, as I heard the general secretary of the PS say several times that he would not question the objective that the Government presented in the European budget plan, I believe that The PS will vote against all measures by other parties that increase expenses or reduce income and will not itself present”. The same is saying, without saying it, that he does not expect the PS to present any proposal to increase pensions permanently, since Chega has already said that he would present a proposal. The PS, which in its specifications included an extraordinary (permanent) increase in pensions, has not yet revealed whether it will present, in particular, a proposal in this regard.
“The PS said several times, even before saying that it made the budget viable, that if it made it possible, as will happen, it would not distort the budget, nor the budget balance nor the measures proposed by the Government in this area and we trust in that” Miranda Sarmento reaffirmed, assuming that viability on the part of the PS implies accepting all the Government’s measures, even that of the IRC, which in the PS is considered to vote against – making its approval in the specialty dependent on the vote in favor of Chega , who, in turn, I have already said would present a proposal to reduce not one but two percentage points of the nominal corporate tax rate.
In particular, Chega has already said that he will present a two-point CRI proposal, Miranda Sarmento says that he maintains objectives of lowering the CRI in the coming years, but by 2025 the Government’s proposal is to lower one point from 21% to 20%. “We need to lower the CRI rate,” he reiterates, assuming that this is a path that leads to greater economic growth and competitiveness of the national economy.
It is with a logic of compromise that the Government made the proposal to lower one point and not the two that it initially intended.
“I have the word of the general secretary of the PS.” And the word, according to Miranda Sarmento, is not to change the Government’s proposal. But he will only comment on this possible decision (not passing the IRC) when (and if) it happens. “No precipitation. The Portuguese spent too much time looking at what doesn’t matter in the Budget. “What matters in the Budget is the content and what will change in people’s lives.” “When the general secretary of the PS makes a statement, we will evaluate his decision,” but, he adds, “what we hope is that the PS, when it comes to making the budget viable, in the specialty, whether in this matter of the IRC or in other matters, it does not distort what the Budget presented by the Government is.”
The objective continues to be, he affirms, to lower the CRI for companies, because “it is a lever for economic growth.” “When the parties announce the meaning of their vote, we will evaluate the consequences of this.”
The Minister of Finance reaffirms that there is almost no room to change the proposed accounts, in order to maintain the surplus projection of 0.3% in 2025.
The margin, he says again, “is very small,” and sets a value of less than 0.1% of GDP so as not to change the objective. “I think this is public.”
“We have a very large budgetary need in 2025 and 2026,” so “we designed a program that left many measures for 2027 and 28,” such as the reduction of the IRS. There is no place to do it before.
Likewise, it also leaves an early indication that the PSD should not vote in favor of measures that appear in the electoral program but that were not the subject of this budget which, the minister guarantees, actually has fewer budget knights (although it has some because of tripartite agreements): measures without financial impact or financial rules but which are multi-annual.
The AD program is for four years, recalls Miranda Sarmento, in the face of criticism from IL that it is in the specialty to present proposals that were also made by AD.
“It is very easy to look for AD proposals that are not in this budget.” The program is for four years. What happens if the opposition proposes anti-dumping measures? “They are from AD but not on this calendar, you can’t do everything at once. The budget margin is not something that exists. The country committed to Brussels to have a surplus of 0.3% and that objective is what we must achieve next year.”
Given the words of Luís Montenegro that the IRS Jovem proposal, after negotiations with the PS, improved, Miranda Sarmento says that the Government’s objective was to meet three objectives and “this model achieves those three objectives.” First, cover all young people, extend the term and increase the tax benefit.
“Model that, in the absence of an absolute majority, compromise is always better and “The country has a good budget with a good IRS Jovem.”
Source: Observadora
