Presented yesterday, the State Budget proposal for 2022 has already prompted a reaction from the Automobile Clube de Portugal (ACP) which has not spared criticism of the document prepared by the executive of António Costa.
The main criticisms are directed at the heavy tax burden that continues to be levied on fuels. Despite the savings allowed by the IRS reduction for many taxpayers, the ACP reminds that this will be, in large part, allocated precisely to fuel expenses.
According to the ACP, "With the escalation of raw material prices, also due to the energy crisis, the devaluation of the euro and the degree of uncertainty in the markets, it would be essential to help the «complete economic recovery» for the Government to intervene in the decline of fuel taxes”.
To this end, the ACP recalls that the Government could withdraw the additional tax on Petroleum Products (ISP), thus offsetting the increase in the price of the raw material. However, this will not happen, and for this reason the ACP accuses the executive of “taking refuge in rhetoric and passing on blame”.
Still on fuel prices, the ACP emphasizes that "although the Government always talks about fuels as a matter of individual mobility, the truth is that this rise in prices represents a hole in the economy of families and small and medium-sized companies that, they will inevitably pay more for all goods and services.”
Slaughter incentives still lacking
Also worthy of criticism was the lack of proposals to encourage the scrapping of end-of-life vehicles , this in a country that, according to the ACP, “has one of the oldest car parks in the European Union” and in which “public transport lags far behind its counterparts in terms of supply and efficiency”.
In the same communiqué, the ACP considers support for the purchase of low-emission vehicles to be “sterile for most taxpayers”, recalling that many of them do not have “the budget for the acquisition of much more expensive vehicles, even if they are more efficient at the point. from an environmental point of view, and more limited in terms of autonomy”.
The ACP also criticizes the increases in the ISV and IUC and the maintenance of the additional IUC for diesel vehicles, stating that "the Government sees private transport as a privilege and not an essential means of transport compared to the national public transport map".
Finally, and in conclusion, the ACP considers that "the gain in IRS is another lost opportunity and 2022 will certainly not be a year of recovery for taxpayers" and also emphasizes that "the automobile sector, as usual , is one of the biggest tax revenues for the State”.