The legislative formula that the government is preparing to clarify the calculation of tenants’ income when determining access to the subsidy and its value, thus legalizing the internal sending of finances, according to several specialists in constitutional law heard by DN/Dinheiro Vivo. That is, if “the amendment is applied backwards, it is unconstitutional,” says Jorge Bacelar Gouveia.
It is about the kind of profit that the decree law and the standard reveal in the equation. The certificate expressly states that “annual income is considered the total income for purposes of determining the rate calculated by the IRS in the assessment of the beneficiary’s IRS with respect to the last available tax period”. Now the “income for rate determination” refers to field 9 of the IRS statement, so it is taxable income. But the order takes into account not only gross income, but also those subject to special rates, such as alimony payments and property income, narrowing the universe of potential beneficiaries of the measure, as well as the amount of aid.
The Finance interpretation rule has been introduced into the legislative procedure through the PS group in the form of a proposal. The government and socialists thus expected to legalize the order signed by the Secretary of State for Fiscal Affairs. However, and despite harsh criticism from the PSD, in the context of the discussion and vote on the More Housing package, the PS bank backtracked yesterday and decided to withdraw the project, leaving a future clarification of the diploma to the executive power was sent. Shortly afterwards, the leader of the PS, Eurico Brilhante Dias, indicated that the government would come up with a solution. Orientation confirmed by the Minister of the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, who said during the briefing of the Council of Ministers this Thursday that “the government will clarify what needs to be clarified in a specific diploma”.
But there are several doubts about the legal mechanism that will be used by the executive to correct the decree. DN/Dinheiro Vivo questioned the Ministry of Finance but received no response. The rules of the decree regarding the calculation of income were never applied, with the government departments following the lines of the internal control room, resulting in lower aid and a smaller number of beneficiaries. Since the first rent payment was already made in June, also retroactive to January, with July processing coming up, on the 20th, if the new government diploma amends the law retroactively, to convert what’s in the shipment, there may be “a risk of unconstitutionality”, revealed to DN / Dinheiro Vivo the constitutionalist Fernando Condesso.
Incidentally, if the new diploma does not come into effect on January 1, families can appeal to the court and demand payment of subsidies, according to the criteria of the decree-law, until the date of entry into force of the legal rectification.
However, there are “hidden ways to escape unconstitutionality by allowing retroactive effect,” Condesso warned. For example, “if the new law does not say that it amends the previous decree, but rather that the interpretation regarding the income calculation formula was always the one in the dispatch, there is the possibility of not violating the constitution,” he explained.
According to Fernando Condesso, the change in law will have to be implemented by means of “one’s own diploma and not by decree or order”.
An internal order, signed on June 1 by State Secretary for Tax Affairs, Nuno Félix, to which DN/Dinheiro Vivo had access, instructed the services of the Tax and Customs Administration (AT) to change the formula for calculating income support intended for tenants with an annual income of up to 38,632 euros, referring to 2021, and with an effort rate equal to or greater than 35%, changing the criteria set by law. For example, benefits will be substantially reduced and some people will not have access to the subsidy. Everything to avoid a hole of one billion euros in the state budget, as the estimated cost of the measure is 240 million euros, minus 760 million, DN/Dinheiro Vivo found. The tax specialist Luís Leon, co-founder of the consulting firm Ilya, stated at the time that “the internal rule is illegal because it cannot override the law”.
At the latest assessment, the government realized that this support will reach approximately 185,000 families, 35,000 more than expected. The subsidy can be up to 200 euros per month and the average payout amount, exclusively by bank transfer, is around 100 euros. Please note that support with a monthly value of less than 20 euros is only paid every six months.
Home loan support
In addition to the clarification of the decree law, the cabinet intends to extend the measure granting an interest subsidy of up to 75% for own and permanent housing contracts up to 250 thousand euros, and closed until March 15, for families up to the 6th tax bracket (38,632 euros) with an effort percentage of more than 35%.
Presidency Minister Mariana Vieira da Silva said after the Council of Ministers that in the context of “an evaluation of the first data” she will receive “on the use of the housing credit response”, she will manager can equate some custom adjustments.
Salomé Pinto is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo
Source: DN
