Speaking to journalists in parliament, André Ventura said that, this Tuesday, he contacted the PSD parliamentary leader, Hugo Soares, to tell him that Chega is not comfortable with the government's proposal, "because it benefits those who earn more and not those who earn less", but does not want to create "a problem for governance in such a sensitive matter".

"We suggested to the PSD that it lower the two proposals to the committee without a vote, at least the two proposals. It was a suggestion that I myself made because we would not waste time, since it is possible to print an urgency in the specialty process", he said.

André Ventura pointed out that Chega is only available to lower the proposals to the specialty if there are guarantees, on the part of the Government, that, in the committee, work will be done "on the two or three levels that are at the initial base of the pyramid, allowing those who earn 1,000, 1,500 or 2,000 euros to benefit more than they are being".

The leader of Chega said that, so far, he has not yet received any response from the PSD, despite stating that they are "in talks", and added that he understands that the Minister of Finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, has to "do the calculations and the re-equation of what will change the levels".

Asked if, in that case, the PS proposal would be left out, André Ventura said that "it is relatively indifferent, what has to be guaranteed is that the Government will not lower it to the specialty just to gain time"

"To lower it to the specialty, there must be a prior agreement that we will work on those lower levels to ensure that people will pay less taxes, it is not to lower it to the specialty to force the vote", he said.

If the Government "remains inflexible", André Ventura advised it to do "two things: either reach an understanding with the PS, or withdraw the proposal because, otherwise, it could very easily fail to pass in parliament".

The leader of Chega alleged that he made this proposal to the PSD to ensure that "there is no embarrassment for the Government today" and also so that his party is not "obliged to vote on a proposal that theoretically it would not like to do very much, which is that of the PS".

"I challenge the PSD to say whether it accepts to lower it to the specialty to change the levels, it is not to force the vote in the specialty. The Government now has to say whether it accepts to do this or not", he said.

This Tuesday, André Ventura had admitted voting against the Government's proposal to reduce IRS marginal rates and to make the PS proposal viable, claiming that it is closer to his own.

At a press conference in the Assembly of the Republic, André Ventura said that he had not received "from the Government, nor from the PSD parliamentary bench, any negotiation, proposal, counter-proposal or openness in relation to the alteration of the tax legislation" and accused the executive and the social democrats of showing arrogance, warning that "it will not lead to good results in the future".

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