Reducing the Municipal Property Tax (IMI) rate is one of the points on Portimão’s 2024 municipal budget.
To alleviate the burden on families in the Municipality, Portimão Council has decided to lower the Municipal Property Tax (IMI) rate to be collected in the next fiscal year, which will go from 0.40% to 0.39%.
This is one of the main highlights of the 2024 municipal budget and the last measure prepared according to the conditions of the PAM – Municipal Adjustment Programme, which has been in force since 2016.
“The measure sustains the Municipality’s decision to reduce the IMI, which began in 2016, when the rate had reached 0.45%, as imposed by the Municipal Support Fund (FAM), following a loan to settle previous Portimão City Council debts”.
Therefore, next year, the amount payable by owners of rural and urban properties will be based on a rate of 0.39%, representing a reduction of 0.01 percentage points compared to 2023.
“This option is only possible thanks to the sustainability [policy] Portimão Municipality has been leading since 2013, decreasing the IMI from 0.45 to 0.39% in the space of seven years”, highlights the Municipality, adding that it implies a loss of revenue in the order of €3.2 million, “compensated by the slack allowed to the local economy, with emphasis on families with dependents, who will save around €800 000 next year.”
Still, within the scope of this municipal tax, the possibility of “increasing the period of temporary IMI exemption from three to five years for buildings intended for personal and permanent housing” is being considered under current legislation.
The next budget also foresees “a set of immediate responses to the most recent circumstances that are already affecting or will soon affect many citizens across the board as a result of the national and international macroeconomic framework, as well as the consequences of inflation, the recent rise in interest rates and wars in Ukraine and the Middle East”.
According to the Municipality, the financial sustainability policy, pursued in recent times, will enable the Portimão City Council to “reduce another €5 million of its debt to the FAM, compared to the amount initially stipulated for this year”, allowing it to get out of its excessive deficit status by the end of 2024.
The Portimão City Council’s budget for 2024 is €86,351,500, with the Municipality anticipating, for the coming years, “an even greater reduction in municipal taxes on families, as a result of the end of the constraints determined by the PAM”, it concludes.
