A few days before the start of the 2023 state budget, the Social Democrats are pushing forward with a series of priority measures to, as the PSD MP said, “make the economy more competitive” and help families cope with the adverse inflation situation. offer . Among other things, lowering the IRS to the 6th bracket (inclusive), by lowering tax rates and updating the brackets to the expected inflation rate of 7.4%.
During a press conference in parliament, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento defended the increase of the Social Support Index (IAS) as a priority, even at the estimated inflation rate of 7.4%. RSI) or child benefit, will not lose purchasing power in the coming year.
As for the tax authorities, in addition to updating the brackets, which will cover taxpayers to an annual salary of €36,757 – which would be financed “at a cost of one third of the surplus, i.e. €1.3 billion”, representing a total cost of 400 million -, the PSD defends the application of a maximum rate of 15% (excluding the last step of the IRS) for young people up to 35 years.
The Social Democratic Group leader clarified that these measures will cover about 80% of taxpayers (about five million people), in the case of the IRS, which will benefit more than one million people after the increase in the Social Support Index.
PSD parliamentary source had already explained to DN that while there are some measures that are similar to the inflation-fighting package – “or even the same”, he explained – the big difference has to do with the period in which they be applied: if in the case of the package presented at the beginning of September the measures were in force until the end of the year, in this case the application of the now released proposals will be carried out during the following year of 2023. This means that “the phased cost price is lower” than when applied over a period of months. At the time, the party proposed lowering the IRS to the fourth, fifth and sixth levels – something they now only want to see applied in the latter case.
The Social Democrats are also moving forward with the proposal to negotiate the National Minimum Wage for a reference value of EUR 765, an increase slightly above expected inflation.
The set of priorities presented by the Social Democrats this Thursday is divided into five lines of action: “youth, the most disadvantaged sectors of society, income over work policies, birth support and even proposals targeting companies” to boost competitiveness. .
Health, housing and education
Another PSD priority for next year’s state budget is strengthening the National Health Service. To this end, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento argued that it is necessary to guarantee access to a general practitioner for all Portuguese, using additional contracts or partnerships with the social and private sector if necessary.
In order to “soften the deterioration of the efforts of families with housing loans, Luís Montenegro’s party proposes to do this through incentives and removal of legal, fiscal and economic-financial barriers to the transition from a variable interest regime to a fixed interest rate (more advantageous while interest rates are still historically low); changing, renegotiating or restructuring credit conditions, including in the event of an extension of the term of home loans (term extension); and early repayment of loans based on existing savings.
Still within the framework of support for the family, birth and education and work opportunities, the PSD is moving forward with another set of measures, including negotiations in social dialogue on increasing parental leave to 26 weeks and strengthening funds for the ensuring the universalization of daycare centers for all children, regardless of the institution’s ownership regime, from January 2023.
Such as deepening student learning recovery by extending the duration and funding of learning recovery measures developed autonomously by public schools (such as tutoring or others); and initiating an extraordinary process to assess the situation and impact of remedial actions, in particular funding from the Institute for Educational Assessment (IAVE) to conduct this assessment independently.
Competitiveness
As for the competitiveness of the economy, the PSD is again pushing for the IRC rate to be cut from 21% to 19% in 2023, and a further cut in 2024 from 19% to 17%. A measure estimated at 200 million euros per year.
The PSD faction leader also proposed to strengthen capitalization and financing lines for SMEs, especially for the sectors most affected by the increase in energy, as well as for the agri-food sector.
Source: DN
