Hotels association releases 25 proposals for State Budget
AHRESP, the Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Similar Services of Portugal have today released 25 proposals for the 2025 State Budget, including the reducing of the intermediate VAT (IVA) rate to 10% and restoring soft drinks and alcoholic beverages to that intermediate rate.
AHRESP considers it essential that the budget document “includes measures that ensure the sustainability of the HORECA Channel companies (meaning hotels, restaurants, cafés and catering), which, it says, “are crucial to Portugal’s economic and social dynamism”.
The association’s measures are based on four ‘strategic axes’: Taxation, Capitalisation of Companies, Support for Investment and Employment, Qualification and Integration of Migrants. The reduction of the intermediate VAT rate to 10% stands out, “like our main competitors, Spain, France and Italy”.
AHRESP also defends the reinstatement of soft drinks and alcoholic beverages at the intermediate VAT rate, which are currently taxed at 23%, and the reduction of the Single Social Tax (TSU) paid by companies on workers’ earnings.
For the association, the budget should also include a reduction in income taxes (IRC and IRS), “to increase the competitiveness of national companies and increase the net disposable income of families”. AHRESP advocates the creation of “financial mechanisms aimed at reducing companies” indebtedness, as well as promoting the restoration of equity to pre-pandemic levels”.
According to the association, some companies in the sector are unable to generate sufficient financial resources to cover all their costs – especially the financial costs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Although the data on tourist activity indicates that we are growing, not everything is going well – particularly concerning catering, which has encountered numerous difficulties,” the association emphasises, pointing out that the dynamics of demand have been “very inconstant and disparate across the territory” with lower purchasing power.
In addition to inflation that has seen the prices of food, raw materials, energy and interest rates increease, there is also a lack of qualified professionals in the sector, which, AHRESP warns, “has become a “perfect storm”, jeopardising the sustainability of businesses”.
Source: LUSA
