Chega President Andre Ventura spoke out Wednesday against a new tax on excess profits from oil companies and said consumers should be given a discount in such cases.
“We understand that by not increasing taxes, we solve the problem in Portugal, we already have more taxes that all companies pay more,” the Chega leader defended in statements to reporters at the party’s headquarters in Lisbon, when asked about the profit. provided by Galp.
According to Ventura, “Setting a tax precedent for windfall profits is a figure that sets a serious precedent and gives the government carte blanche to continue taxing, taxing, taxing, when already last year we broke the historical record of the tax burden in Portugal.”
“For the left this is solved by more taxes, for us it is solved by lower taxes on consumers and a guarantee from the state, especially through tax legislation, for example, that we do not continue to pay VAT at an intermediate rate on fuel. and we should pay less,” he defended.
The deputy considered it “immoral” that the profits of these companies are distributed “allegedly between shareholders and partners, when the majority of the population pays for it”, and argued that “part of this money” should be “returned to the middle class.” through any mechanism, through mandatory direct discounts, through any government or public mechanism to ensure that the money does not remain in the hands of these companies.
“If we are talking about energy companies where there is profit, then there should be a discount for taxpayers and this discount should be on behalf of the company itself, that is, there should be a discount that the company itself gives to taxpayers. at this stage,” he suggested, pointing out that this measure “already cancels some of the profits they had.”
Another solution could be “direct return, but then it is necessary to study legally how this is done, because the constitutional framework of Portugal is very rigid.”
After Galp announced on Monday its first half profit of €420 million, BE and PCP called on the government to impose an excess profits tax.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
