The hearing of the Minister of Finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, in Parliament, requested by Chega, was approved on Wednesday morning.

According to SIC Notícias, which released the information, all parties voted in favor, including PSD and CDS. Only Livre chose to abstain.

The Minister of Finance will thus be heard by the Parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance, on the controversy over the tax relief announced by the PSD/CDS-PP Government.

The request was submitted by Chega "to effectively explain to the country what the IRS reduction is that is proposed to be made next year" and "what its scope will be".

At issue is a controversy related to an intervention by Luís Montenegro in the Assembly of the Republic, during the debate on the Government's program, in which the Prime Minister announced 1,500 million euros of tax relief in IRS.

On that same day, Expresso had published the headline 'Montenegro doubles IRS reduction until summer'.

The opposition parties then accused the Government of trying to deceive the Portuguese.

Later, the Minister of Finance clarified, in an interview with RTP, that 1,300 of those 1,500 million euros were already included in the State Budget for 2024, under the responsibility of António Costa's Government and in force, and that the measure of the new Executive would (after all) only be around 200 million euros.

That night, the director of Expresso, João Vieira Pereira, published a clarification saying that the newspaper had published a false news story, which was based on the Prime Minister's statements and contacts with sources, but that the newspaper did not count "on the fact that the Prime Minister had, in Parliament, deceived the Portuguese".

The Government, in a statement, considered it "true and undeniable" that the reductions in IRS will lead to a cut of 1,500 million euros compared to 2023 and defended that greater reductions in IRS rates would be "budgetarily irresponsible".

The executive also said that if "some political or media actors" had assumed that these were further IRS reductions, this is only their responsibility and added that reductions in higher amounts would be "budgetarily irresponsible".

This afternoon, the parliament will discuss the Government's proposal that changes IRS rates with all parties presenting alternatives, and the outcome of the votes is uncertain, taking into account the balance of power in the Assembly of the Republic.

The Government's proposal, approved by the Council of Ministers at the end of last week, includes a reduction in rates between 0.25 and 3 percentage points up to the 8th income bracket, with the biggest reductions (3 and 1.25 points) falling, respectively, on the 6th and 8th income brackets.

The solution displeased the PS, which accused the Government of focusing tax relief (estimated at 348 million euros in 2024) on higher incomes, leading the socialists to put forward a proposal for an amendment that focuses the most significant part of the relief on lower brackets.

Today's plenary session will also include initiatives from the other opposition parties, also within the scope of IRS.

[News updated at 11:12 am]

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