It’s a soundbite that has been quoted this week in a story that makes very little sense: the Bloco de Esquerda (Left Bloc, or BE) party wants to create yet another tax on property sales, as a means of halting what its MPs term “property speculation”.
Media reports suggest prime minister António Costa has “rejected the plan” – but that PSD Opposition is reported as ‘thinking there may be something in it’.
The truth of the matter is that there are already a number of taxes and levies to dissuade people from ‘buying and selling property’ in a speculative manner.
Costa’s “rejection” captured on RTP TV was thus: “To be honest, I don’t understand this proposal – primarily because it’s calling for a tax that repeats the tax on economic assets which already exists and charges what needs to be charged”.
The Left Bloc’s proposal, in his opinion, has been “made in a hurry” – very possibly to recover some credibility in the wake of the dismal Robles saga (click here).
Needless to say, BE’s Catarina Martins says Costa has no authority to reject a proposal that has been under negotiation with the Finance Ministry for months.
And so it goes on as the country hurtles ever closer to next year’s legislative elections.
