Ana Vasques claims government was given all facts, but still chose very political interpretation
President of the Institute of Social Security (ISS), Ana Vasques has submitted her resignation to the Minister of Labour today because she believes the government has shown a ‘breach of trust’ following the issue of IRS (income tax) withholding from pensions.
In her letter sent to Minister Maria do Rosário Ramalho, to which Lusa has had access, Vasques explains her reasoning:
“Despite the fact that everything was clarified, and despite the fact that the matter was completely cleared up in terms of the technical and legal correctness and good faith” at a meeting with the minister and her secretary of State on April 22, the “public position taken by the government” a week later, that the previous administration had engineered things to make themselves look better in the eyes of pensioners pre-elections, was the kind of ‘breach of trust that could not be remedied” – hence her decision to step down.
Indeed, Vasques is so keen to leave that she adds that although legislation requires a 60-day notice period, she is “available” to leave sooner “if the government so decides”.
Essentially – as Ana Vasques explained in parliament last week – the withholding of tax on pensions in January was for IT reasons – and when it was factored in in April/ May, more pensioners received ‘more’ in their pension installments than those who received less.
But still the government chose to make political capital out of the issue – with the minister going so far as to describe her feelings on April 29 of “surprise and stupefaction” – which Vasques claims could not have been the case (due to everything having been minutely explained the week before).
