The PS councils of Alijó, Murça, Peso da Régua and Vila Pouca de Aguiar asked the Prime Minister to reconsider the increase in the Single Circulation Tax (IUC), as it is “an excessive and disproportionate measure”, it was announced on Monday .
“We cannot fail to express our legitimate concerns about this measure which seems to us excessive and disproportionate, especially for the population of the areas where we represent the Socialist Party,” the presidents of those councils in the Vila Real district stated in an open letter . addressed to António Costa, also Secretary General of the PS, referring to the proposed increase in the IUC for older vehicles for 2024.
The letter was signed by André Lage, Filomena Marques, Hugo Almeida and Pedro Crespo, respectively presidents of the Municipal Political Commission of the Socialist Party from Murça, Alijó, Peso de Régua and Vila Pouca de Aguiar.
The Socialist leaders also mentioned that “many families rely on vehicles for daily transportation and an increase in the IUC could harm people’s ability to adequately maintain and renew their vehicles, as those who do not have the capacity to changing cars probably won’t have the capacity to accommodate the maintenance of what it has.”
“We emphasize the fact that our territory does not have a strengthened public transport network sufficient to meet the needs of population groups that have to move to urban centers where the most basic public services are centralized – health, education and justice,” stated she.
For those responsible, the current situation of the region’s agricultural and wine sectors, the basis of the local economy, is equally worrying.
“We are, as you well know, experiencing dramatic situations of total production losses resulting in loss of income for families who live exclusively from this sector. A tax increase at this stage could lead to very serious social unrest, which has already been partially triggered,” they thought.
André Lage, Filomena Marques, Hugo Almeida and Pedro Crespo called for “a reconsideration of this measure” because “the people of the Interior should not again have to bear a measure that they cannot compensate with close, quality services and with public services.” transportation that meets their real needs.”
“The population of this area is parking the majority of the years before 2007, not because of a lack of concern for environmental issues, but because of an easily verifiable economic necessity. If the government takes measures to reduce the toll for ex- SCUTS is still in favor of that, in a residual way, for our population, if the deterioration of the IUC becomes a reality, we will obviously get an annulment of this benefit” , they declared.
But, they noted, many of these people “do not use the highways regularly and are still dependent on the old national roads for their most basic trips and are therefore doubly punished.”
On Sunday, protests and slow marches against the measure announced by the government were held in several district capitals across the country, organized by the non-partisan citizens’ movement organized by STOP IUC.
The OE 2024 proposal changes the tax rules, in terms of IUC, for category A vehicles registered before 2007 and motorcycles (category E), providing that they are no longer taxed solely on the basis of engine capacity (as is currently the case is). , which is now considered the environmental component.
However, OE 2024 includes a safeguard clause that stipulates that the tax increase may not increase by more than 25 euros annually.
According to Deloitte calculations, this will translate into an increase of around 400% for a 900-cylinder petrol car, compared to the amount paid in 2023.
Source: DN
