As new statistics show that feelings of well-being are dropping in Portugal – while poverty has now hit 123 million Europeans – news that a Portimão resident has gone public over her inability to pay IMI rates could be considered unremarkable.
But the fact is that property rates are rising far too high for thousands of households – and in Portimão the local council is charging the maximum.
For unemployed designer Estela Lapa this means she has seen the IMI charge on her small one-bedroom apartment sky-rocket.
Since 2009, the valuation on her home has doubled, and she is now faced with finding €374 that she doesn’t have by the end of the month.
Lapa, 51, is adamant. She will offer herself for community service to pay the charge, but she will not ask for charity, and she refuses to try and arrange a bank loan.
As newspapers point out, Lapa is just one of the casualties of the government’s zeal to bring in €1.482 million in IMI payments this year.
Next year, the provision in the State Budget is to raise IMI revenue even further.
While Lapa’s plight has touched the heart of a wine producer in Almeirim – ready to pay her whole bill outright – the woman has refused what she calls charity, and said she will only accept the money if she pays in kind, by designing a label for his bottles, for example.
Meantime, Portimão council has said it is unable to intervene. Even though IMI rates are a form of council taxation, their recovery is the responsibility of the government’s AT (Autoridade Tributária).
Contacted by journalists, a spokesperson for the AT said Lapa’s idea for community service simply was “not possible”.
What is possible, said the source, is a request for rates’ exemption which “will be judged on the applicant’s financial possibilities and the value of their home”.
Portimão rates anguish hits the headlines
