Prime Minister António Costa admitted on Monday that the minimum wage could exceed 810 euros by 2024, which has currently been agreed with the social partners. Despite there being openness on the part of employers’ federations and trade unions, the issue is still being negotiated.
With the arrival of the presentation of the 2024 state budget, which will take place on October 10, António Costa confirmed that three meetings of the Council of Ministers will take place this week whose aim is to finalize the document that will be delivered next week . to the Assembly of the Republic with the forecast of the government’s public accounting.
In an interview with CNN Portugal, in a “town hall” format in the main hall of ISEG, in which guests are questioned by journalists and also by the public, Costa also confirmed that pensions will be updated next year in accordance with what is stated in the law is provided. .
However, outside the government’s forecasts, the update of the IRS tables and the reduction of this tax by 1,200 million euros are included in the challenge launched by the PSD. The Prime Minister reiterated what he already said and justified this refusal to follow the Social Democratic proposal with the fact that the state is now asking for “one billion euros less than the rules in force in 2015”, when the PS took over the administration resumed.
With this, Costa confirmed that he will continue the government’s projected trajectory of reducing the IRS by 2 billion euros by 2026. For the foreseeable future, he plans to maintain the youth tax measures he announced in the PS’s political comeback. with exemption from payment of this tax in the first year of activity and with increases of 25% for subsequent years, until reaching regular payments.
Similar to what he suggested for workers, the Prime Minister assured that “there are several ways to reduce the IRS tax” and that new measures are also being negotiated with social partners.
‘The state doesn’t care’
Faced with the surplus of tax revenues, the head of the government said that this is an extraordinary effect, but that it is also a symptom of the increase in employment, recalling that Portugal reaches almost 5 million working people, which is an increase of the contributions to social security. Asked about the possibility of the state giving more to people through surplus tax revenues, the Prime Minister emphasized that “the state does not give anything, it redistributes”.
As for the measures taken last year to help households cope with the effects of inflation, the model will not be repeated for this year. From Costa’s perspective, the measures that were extraordinary last year have become permanent this year, with support for “185 thousand families in paying their household rent”.
Do not react
As for the inability to achieve the goal of reaching the 50th anniversary of April 25 and overcoming the problem of housing shortage, the Prime Minister justified it with the pandemic. “I am quite frustrated because reality has been more dynamic than political responsiveness,” Costa affirmed, recalling the two years of pandemic that defined the application of the government’s fundamental housing law.
Referring to the demonstration that took place last weekend in 24 cities in Portugal, the Prime Minister said that “there are no magical measures for housing”, recalling that the Housing Law was promulgated by the President of the Republic, but that in some led to the The fact that the head of state vetoed the diploma was initially not a question of its constitutionality, but of the short-term responsiveness of the program.
Source: DN
