Chega is proposing to reduce the VAT on electricity and gas to the minimum rate, from 23% to 6%, as a way to cope with the price increases and “to ease the Portuguese budget”.
In a bill submitted to parliament, the party led by André Ventura states that the “easiest solution to put into practice to reduce prices, either from a practical point of view for operators, or from a tax point of view, or in terms of benefit to consumers, is the reduction of VAT rate applicable to both electricity and gas, to be determined in the table which, in the context of the same tax, is aimed at goods and services subject to the reduced rate, i.e. 6%”.
“It is urgent to reduce the VAT rate for gas and electricity to the minimum rate, in order to ease the budget of the Portuguese,” the party emphasized in the bill handed over to the Assembly of the Republic on Saturday.
“Although the price of electricity in Portugal is close to the European average, the ‘taxes and duties’ component in Portugal is one of the highest in Europe and practically doubles the final price of electricity compared to its base value in our country,” argues the delegates.
The party believes that “the objective of exempting households from excessive payment of electricity costs through fiscal means is best achieved in a context that is already depressing in terms of income, due to the effect of inflation. and the rise in interest rates. prices”.
Chega recalls that “Portugal and Spain have already been jointly authorized by the European Commission to reduce the production costs of power plants”, but regrets that the measure “will cause delays in achieving the intended targets, namely with regard to the reduction of electricity price paid by the consumer”.
As for the Iberian mechanism, “if on the one hand it tries to dampen the rise in final consumption prices, it does not cancel it out and part of these costs will have to be paid by consumers, which is already reflected in the invoices of non- private consumers, who had a contract on the free market, with an increase in bills of about 50%.
In the initiative, Chega also states that the European Union has allowed member states to “reduce VAT on gas and electricity to the minimum rate without having to ask the VAT committee for permission”, despite limiting “the application of the reduced rate to a list of 24 of the 29 eligible categories, in which electricity, gas and district cooling are found”.
The party warns that “the prices of essential goods are becoming more and more unbearable” and points out that “it is already from October that Portuguese households will pay more for the gas bill, in fact in a cross-cutting and expected effect aimed at increasing the prices not only on gas, but also on electricity and water”.
Chega also points to the government, which finds it “incomprehensible” that “it has collected budget surpluses and high tax revenues without making progress on these kinds of measures that promote their reduction”.
The government is meeting today in an extraordinary council of ministers to approve a package of measures to support household incomes to respond to the current context of inflation and rising costs of living.
One of the measures, according to the newspapers, is the granting of a check for 100 euros to families to help support the rise in energy and food costs.
Source: DN
