Companies run out of tax havens will still be able to benefit from the government pandemic support packages.
Says Público today, the official line is that to block them would implicate ‘constraints’ and affect Portuguese workers.
But other countries – namely Denmark, France, Belgium, Italy, Austria and Poland – have all decided that it makes no sense to lighten the financial load of firms that are dodging taxes.
France’s president Macron has been emphatic about not extending State funding to these companies.
But PS Socialists see the situation differently.
Said economy minister Pedro Siza Vieira today, the decision was made with “consideration for the need for the social protection of workers and recovery of businesses that operate in national territory”.
It hasn’t been consensual: PCP communists and PEV (Greens) have both proposed draft laws to exclude offshore companies from State aid, but they were voted against by PS, PSD, CDS-PP and Iniciativa Liberal (Liberal Initiative).
This means, companies run from ‘offshores’ will be able to take advantage of all the aid packages, from the lay-off scheme to credit lines, fiscal initiatives proposed in the Supplementary Budget and the extension of the IRC ceiling for losses in 2020 and 2021.
