Tears, bullfights and coalitions will lose revenue on the second day of voting on the OE headquarters – Observer

(This article has been updated throughout the day with the most relevant budget votes, which are taking place at the Assembly of the Republic.)

It was the second day of voting in the specialty and the one where some of the parties' and government's tax proposals began to be approved, including VAT on glasses. The reduction to 6% of entries for bullfights, cinemas and musical performances was already guaranteed and had even been approved by PSD, CDS-PP and PCP. It has also been approved the inclusion of three new vaccines in the National Immunization Plan, which speeds up the process of building the pediatric ward of São João Hospital.

The Observer leaves you the essence of these ten hours of parliament, with the votes of the state budget for 2019 in the specialty. The final overall vote is scheduled for this Thursday.

The PSD and the CDS-PP have aligned their proposals with those of the CFP and have decided to reduce the VAT rate applied to all cultural events, whether interpreted in-house or in-house. outside, in cinema and bullfighting, contrary to what was planned. was the government's proposal.

Thus, from 1 January, the rate will be reduced from 13% currently to 6%. The government has always tried to alert the parties on the issue of the effective date and on the application of the reduced tariff to all cinemas, but the opposition has ignored the warnings and even voted on the proposal, which should have an impact on the budget accounts well above the 9 million estimated by the government on 15 October.

Although the amendments that included bullfights were rejected by the left-wing bloc, the effective date became January, instead of July as the government wished, all parties, with the exception of the PS, approved.

This was one of the most controversial issues related to bullfighting. The PAN reached an agreement with the government so that the Tauranian artists cease to be exempt from VAT and pay 6%. Some prosecutors have warned that this change would provide an advantage to bullfighters, as they could make deductions on work equipment – which could be in this case horses, purchased costumes, bandits, among others – what is it? they could not do it before. right here

The PAN has always challenged this point of view by saying that it was not only a matter of taxing the bullfighters, but also of giving a political signal, and warned that these deductions could only be made for organized accounting artists, which would entail additional costs for these professionals. .

However, despite the agreement between the government and the PAN, the parties voted in favor of a PSD proposal that removes this exemption, while leaving the same. Bullfighters will not pay VAT at 6%, but they will not be able to make deductions either.

Books, newspapers and other periodicals dealing with subjects of a scientific, educational, literary, artistic, cultural, recreational or sporting nature will be subject to a VAT of 6%, as well as these printed publications, but only from July of the year. Next year. The Greens' proposal to reduce the tax rate was approved unanimously, but the SP endorsed a second point in its amendment that went in the same direction to ensure that this reduction in the tax rate was the same. tax will only take effect on July 1st. next year, rather than coming into effect earlier this year.

The Left has joined forces to lobby the DSP and CDS proposals to eliminate the additional petroleum product tax (ISP) for diesel – the government has issued an order to remove gasoline additional three cents per liter.

With regard to diesel, the directive leaves only the commitment to "continue the path of correspondence with the values ​​of 2016 with regard to diesel". The publication of the ordinance was already known to the Communists, who had indicated at the press conference at which they had presented the proposed amendments to the OE – in order to justify why they did not did not ask for the elimination of the additional sentence, as they had always defended. The vote against the left was therefore expected.

The PCP and the Left Bloc wanted to create a new intermediate step of 7% in state engagement, which charges companies between 20 and 35 million euros. The PS was studying the approval of the communist proposal and was up to the last day. the time to do it. But when the time for the vote came, the PS first called for a postponement at the end of the vote and even ended up overturning the two proposals.

Last year, the PCP had already been able to approve the increase of 7% to 9% of the highest echelon of the IRC, thus worsening the taxation of large companies, which earn profits in excess of 35 million euros per year.

With the creation of a new echelon, they would rise to four levels of the oil spill, aggravating up to 300,000 euros the taxation of companies whose profits were between 20 and 35 million euros, which, according to the communists, are about 60 in Portugal. The amendment implies that the second stage of the tax – the rate of 5% – only concerns companies whose profit is between 7,500 and 20 million euros (instead of the threshold of 35 million euros).

But the PS, although two amendments were approved against its will, resulting in a significant revenue loss for the state coffers compared to what was planned in the budget, nevertheless resulted in proposals that could generate additional income.

The government will not be able to exacerbate the autonomous taxation of cars purchased by companies by the IRS and IRC, as it had planned in the state budget proposal it had tabled on 15 October. This entails the claims of the government, resulting in a revenue loss of 40 million euros, figure that appeared in the report of OE. The PCP's proposal to eliminate this increase has been approved with all parties for the PS to remain isolated during the vote against.

Thus, what is currently planned in the IRS is maintained: 10% for cars up to 20,000 euros and 20% for vehicles above this value. The government wanted to increase both rates by five percentage points to 15% and 25%.

And the same will apply to the autonomous taxation of service cars in the IRC, the parties having to unite against the PS and approve another amendment of the PCP that blocks the increase anticipated by the government. The OE proposal increased the autonomous taxation of vehicles by up to five percentage points (to 15%) up to € 25,000. And the tax of 37.5% (instead of 35%) on cars over 35 thousand.

One of the first approvals of the afternoon was the proposed amendment to the PCP, which ends with the exemption of the municipal tax on real estate transmissions (IMT) for investment funds immovable. The communist initiative was approved by the left with the abstention of the PSD and CDS. The PCP justified the proposal by the need to ensure that the funds can not be recovered in court – as it was done – by an exemption already lifted in 2016. The party also stated in the statement of motives for the proposal 20 million euros in litigation fees due to this difference.

The left bloc insisted and the Greens also had a proposal in this direction: the reduction in the number of pupils per class must continue and also cover secondary education, from the 10th grade. According to the parties, this was an objective that the government would have abandoned. Now, in the budget, he was again forced to resurrect him.

The standards do not have quantitative objectives, but stipulate that this reduction should also cover professional courses and artistic training.

This is a problem more and more common. Not only are housing costs increasing, but housing capacity in university residences is far from sufficient. For this reason, the PCP has proposed that the monthly amount of the social assistance allowance for housing not paid in the residences to which it applies be increased by an amount equal to 40% of the IAS.

This proposal was approved with the votes in favor of all the benches, with the exception of the PSD. According to the PCP, this would result in an increase of 42.89 euros in student scholarships next year.

The meningitis B vaccine, the rotavirus vaccine and the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine enlargement for boys are now part of the national immunization plan. The PCP's proposal that it was approved this afternoon in a coalition of parties against the PS. Only the CDS has abstained.

The block had exactly the same proposal, and the ENP and PAN proposed to only advocate for adherence to the HPV vaccination plan for boys, but were not voted after the approval of the PCP initiative.

The parties approved the progress of the project and the work of the pediatric ward of the São hospital. The proposed amendment to the PSO provided that the process could be initiated by direct adjustment and without prior audit of the Court of Auditors. A way to streamline the work that has been in demand for a long time. The proposal for this exception plan was approved unanimously.

A concrete vote caused a group to cry in the galleries (parents of children with spinal muscular atrophy). The parties unanimously approved the introduction in all units of the national health service of the drug to treat spinal muscular atrophy of patients with types I and II.

The proposal for amendment was presented by the Greens and got support from all the benches. After that, a group of about five people who were in the galleries celebrated with wonder and tears this change.

The PCP has approved its proposal to strengthen funding for the tariff reduction support program, which will be strengthened by 21 million euros. The government's proposal provided for a € 83 million Environmental Fund loan to support the reduction of social passes next year. All parties, with the exception of the PSD who voted against, approved the proposal to change the Communists, bringing to 104 million euros the amount entered in the state budget.

The PCP stated that the amount envisaged was "admittedly insufficient to address, in terms of users and territoriality, the intended scope of application". In addition, the Communists were also able to approve that from April, the social tariff in the metropolitan area of ​​Porto and the respective financial compensation of the transport companies be defined by the metropolitan area concerned.

Another approved communist proposal was to strengthen measures to encourage the use of generic drugs in order to "increase the share of drugs to 30% in value". All parties voted for, except the PSD who voted against. Another measure was also approved in the same way, the People-Animal-Nature celebration.

The PS voted against, but the proposal was approved and also aims to increase the market share of generics, but to 53%. MEPs still do not know how to reconcile these two approved proposals.

The PCP wants to eliminate the procedural costs, but until it reaches this goal, it was able to approve this Tuesday, unanimously, a new freeze of these costs. The value has been frozen since this year and will remain unchanged in 2019.

The Socialists had already left on their side to strengthen the investment capacity of the judicial police. This translates into an additional transfer of 500 thousand euros for investment and human resources development of the PJ.

The National Data Protection Commission had warned that the standards proposed by the government risked being unconstitutional, so that it was possible to exchange information between the databases of the government and the government. Institute for Employment and Vocational Training and Central Administration of the Health System, as well as the Portuguese Agency for Development and Cohesion will share data with seven public entities, among which the tax administration, social security or the institute of registers and notaries. The party finally ended these two articles of the government proposal.

The proposals that raised doubts with the CNPD were made with the votes against the PCP, the Esquerda Block and the PCP and the abstention of the CDS. Only the PS voted for. Another coalition of forces against the claims of the executive and the PS to join those that took place on the first day of the vote.

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