BE insists on zero VAT on the food mix and limits on fuels

“[We propose that there be a [VAT] drop to the zero rate for the absolutely essential goods in the food sector, from the outset, and that there should be an intermediate rate for road fuels in the 13%, with prices fixed as in Poland, as in Madeira and as in the Azores as well”, argued BE's national coordinator, José Manuel Purez, in statements to journalists in parliament after a meeting with the Government for the presentation of the general lines of the State Budget for 2027.

These are proposals that have been put forward by the opposition and were debated last week in Parliament, with missed votes leading to their lead.

At the end of the meeting, the national coordinator of BE considered that the executive has a budgetary orientation “which is far from responding to those who have a life afflicted by the income of the house, by the price of the supermarket account”.

“The budget that is coming, like any other Budget, you have a choice to make before you: either you continue to distribute resources to those who cause the crisis or you take steps to tackle this crisis and respond to those who have the greatest needs. The information the government has given us leads us to believe that the government insists on its strategy of maintaining effective help to those who have been profiting more from the crisis,” he criticized.

In contrast, José Manuel Pureza has today advanced with a set of proposals that the bloggers plan to present in the field of the specialty, including the reversal of the IRC rate to 21% for companies that make more than 50 million euros per year, with no effect on the expected declines for 2027 and 2028. As for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, BE proposes to maintain current rates.

The bloggers also advocate the extension of the contribution on extraordinary profits, “that the government wants to limit to oil, to the three sectors that profit most from the crisis: banking and the financial sector, large distribution and electricity”.

From the perspective of the bloggers, these two measures create the budgetary slack needed to finance the application of VAT Zero in the food basket and reduced VAT and maximum fuel prices.

As regards zero VAT, BE proposes that the measure be applied “for renewable periods of three months, as long as the price shock lasts” and “in order for the drop to reach the shelves and stay there, the Government should establish quarterly price agreements with producers and distributors and monitor their evolution, as in 2023”.

For fuels, BE wants to reduce from 23 to 13% the rate applied to road fuels and establish a maximum selling price for petrol and diesel to the public, “calculated with the Polish formula: the average wholesale price of the previous business day, communicated to DGEG [General Directorate of Energy and Geology] and ENSE [National Energy Sector Entity] by the five largest operators, plus the ISP and the other due rates, plus a flat-rate retail margin, plus VAT”.

In housing, the party advocates the creation of a mechanism in which the General Deposit Box (CGD) stops increases in the provision of housing credit, the end of the concept of “moderate income” of the government, which defines a legal price range between EUR 400 and EUR 2,300 per month, and insists on the application of ceilings.

In order to contribute to the sustainability of social security, BE proposes to double the AIMI (Additional to Municipal Property Tax), which in 2017 became known as “Mortagua Tax”.