The mayor of Porto warned of the worsening of municipal expenses with the increase in inflation, a situation that he considered worrying and the “second phase of lightening of responsibilities” of the State.

“We have a real situation of inflation in which the current expenditure of the municipalities for the next year increases significantly”highlighted Rui Moreira, at the extraordinary meeting of the Municipal Assembly of Porto, on Monday night.

During the discussion on the fiscal policy of the municipality, the official stated that the expenditure of the municipality of Porto will increase in the “municipality consumables” and in the provision of purchased services, but also in the “wage bill”, as a result of the process of decentralization Skills.

“The wage bill will increase by 35% and it is expected that there will be a replenishment of wages for civil service workers. Replacement that will not be accompanied by the decentralization of powers”, she said, recalling that in the areas of social solidarity and health“ it is not yet known what will happen ”.

Rui Moreira said that the municipality will close next year’s budget “based on great ignorance”, since it does not know what the “slide in current spending” is and stressed that it is the “second phase of flexibility of the State”. responsibilities”. .

We are in the second phase of lightening of responsibilities. Now, [o Estado] was free to pay the salary increase to a huge group of workers who will be paid by the chambers, who in terms of taxes do not find a form of compensation, “he stressed.

The official also warned about the need for the municipality to be “more prudent than in the past”, despite the fact that the budget situation “is comfortable”.

“It is good not to get carried away by good accounts. This is not only a problem for the Câmara do Porto, but it is also a problem. How are we going to be compensated?” he asked, also blaming the National Association of Municipalities of Portugal (ANMP) for “not having a solid discourse” on this matter.

“The financial health of municipalities is only news when it goes wrong, when they have bad accounts and when they can’t survive,” he said.

On September 5, the Government announced a package of measures to support family income in order to mitigate the effects of inflation and the increase in the cost of energy, for an amount of 2,400 million euros.

Measures that have been announced to support families

The President of the Government, António Costa, announced this Monday that after having approved “a very strong support package for families”, next Thursday he will announce measures for companies, which he did not want to advance.

Reduction of the IRS by 0.5 percentage points approved by the Municipal Assembly of Porto

In the same assembly, the reduction of the IRS by 0.5 percentage points was also approved, set at 4%, with the votes against BE and CDU, and the votes in favor of the Rui Moreira movement, PSD, PS, Chega and BREAD.

It was also unanimously approved to maintain the Municipal Property Tax (IMI) at 0.324% and its increase by 30% for degraded buildings.

The maintenance of the reduction in the type of surcharge was approved by vote, to be applied to companies with a turnover of less than 150 thousand euros per year, setting it at 1% of the tax base and not exempt from Corporation Tax (IRC). against the CDU and the BE, and with the votes in favor of the independent movement Aqui Há Porto, the PSD, PS, Chega and PAN.

Raúl Almeida, elected by the Aqui Há Porto movement, stressed that the municipality should be “congratulated” for having the “lowest IMI rate in the country”, which enters into “good accounts” and “relieves families”, but also by at the IRS level, “to do more and better than the Government.”

“We just don’t guarantee anymore because we have decentralization on the table [de competências] and any greater promise at this time collides with the unpredictability of the government in this matter”, he observed.

Nuno Borges, from the PSD, also stressed that the municipality’s fiscal policy is a “means to achieve other objectives”, such as greater public investment and a balanced life.

Emphasizing, like the one chosen by the independent movement, that the IMI rate in Porto is the “lowest in the country”, reflecting in a “positive” way on taxpayer savings, Nuno Borges left the executive with the ” challenge” of adapting the tax to families residing in the municipality under 35 years of age and to large families.

The Social Democrat also said that the reduction made in the IRS reflects the “continuity” of the governance agreement established between the independent movement of Rui Moreira and the PSD, hoping, however, that it could be “more ambitious” in the coming years.

For the PS, Agostinho de Sousa Pinto was in favor of the reduction and maintenance of the municipality’s fiscal policy, saying, however, that the party “would like to see lower IMI, IRS and surcharge rates.”

“We agree with the tax exemption for families and small and medium-sized businesses,” said the socialist, denying the criticisms made by other political forces of the measures presented by the Government for families, with a view to mitigating the effects of the inflation and rising energy costs.

Paulo Vieira de Castro, elected by the PAN, said that it was “correct” to maintain the IMI rate, but suggested the possibility, temporarily or permanently, of exempting this tax.

Regarding the IRS, the sole deputy of the PAN recalled that the municipality of Lisbon “returns 3% to taxpayers, while the municipality of Porto only returns 1%”.

For Susana Constante Pereira, from BE, the IMI “can and should” be used as an instrument to “obtain fair compensation for land use”, as well as a “way to respond to the lack of housing in the city”.

“We believe that indicators should be established for the concept of pressure zones”, highlighted the elected BE, who, regarding the SII, considered that “it favors high incomes and not the vast majority of households”.

The also elected by the CDU, Joana Rodrigues, said that the IRS reduction is “worrying” since “it does not cover the population in the same way” and “benefits those with more income.”

“The reduction worries us and we think it is not fair. In our opinion, this proposal does not equally distribute the wealth”, observed the deputy, who also defended that the “times would imply a different signal from the municipality” regarding the spill, that is, its exemption.

In the session, the mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, clarified some of the issues raised by the deputies on tax matters and defended the need for the parliament “revisiting the historic centers that are world heritage sites” in IMI terms.

“Why should parliament say that IMI is zero there? (…) These historic centers had a huge level of empty buildings and investments would have to be created, but that is no longer the reality today because they are the pressure zones in the cities. Not only in Porto. What seemed generous was no longer grounded or justified,” he added.