If the proposal for the reform of the green tax that the Government has in hand is fully forward already in 2015, the Portuguese have two surprises at the end of January. On your receipt of salaries, a reduction in summer surcharge IRS from 3.5% to 3.25%, which in practice will pay on average for twelve grocery bags. And receive, along with the “tickets” for meal vouchers for public transport.
The contrast between what citizens will pay or will save and innovative incentives for the use of public transport are the most striking features of the project presented on Tuesday by the Commission for Reform Green Taxation, appointed by the Government in February.
The commission suggested concrete measures to recycle the additional revenue that will be generated by carbon taxes, plastic bags, air travel and automobiles. Part of this will be offset by a reduction of 0.25 percentage points in the surcharge IRS
For those who earn 1200 euros a month -. National average – the difference will be a euro at the end of the month. This will be enough to take twelfth house plastic bags, the proposal suggests that the unit be taxed at eight cents.
For businesses there are two types of compensation. One is also modest: a decrease of 0.1 percentage points in social security contributions, the TSU, which descends from 23.75% to 23.65%. The other consists of the deduction, IRC micro and small enterprises, 7.5% of spending on the promotion of energy efficiency.
A description of how, exactly, the 59 tax measures proposed in the area environment will be “recycled” by reducing other taxes is a point of honor of the project delivered to the Government. The next step is the executive send a proposal to the National Assembly. “If Parliament approves our proposal tomorrow, tax neutrality would be absolutely guaranteed,” said Jorge Vasconcelos, Chairman of the Committee for the Reform of Taxation Green on the sidelines of the presentation of the committee’s final report, in Lisbon.
Vasconcelos says the project commissioned by the Government had a clear objective: “In the first place, was to correct distortions in the tax system.” The abusive and inefficient use of resources, he argues, is now paid by those who did it had any liability. “There are many distortions,” he adds.
Many of the measures are not imposed, but incentives to more sustainable behaviors. In this sense, the area of transport are the most salient. The proposal provides that the companies commit “public transport vouchers” to its employees, as a portion of compensation exempt from IRS. And reintroduces the system to encourage the slaughter of vehicles at the end of life, with an unusual novelty: those who want to get rid of a car but do not want to buy another, you may be entitled to two thousand euros credit on public transport
The measures in transport and the tax on plastic bags will be the most visible face of the green tax reform for the citizens in the day-to-day. The rate of carbon, the key measure of the project, this will hardly be felt, representing the immediate reduction of slightly more than one cent in the price of diesel and petrol.
“Is not this signal that will change anything. It is barely noticeable due to the volatility of oil prices, “admits Jorge Vasconcelos. But values can rise if the price of CO2 on the European carbon market and increase, says Vasconcelos, one must look at all the measures together.
“What this work shows is that certain perceptions that there would be a radical opposition between economy and ecology are wrong. A green tax reform promotes the same time both, “said the committee chairman. “There is a set of proactive measures to protect the environment at any cost.”
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