A tax authority ruse to catch tax-dodgers with the help of a GNR Operation Stop was shut down hours after it got underway in Valongo, “intercepting drivers with tax debts”, and “inviting them to pay” or lose their cars.
Acão sobre Rodas (action over wheels) was ‘not defined centrally’, Secretary of State for Finances António Mendonça Mendes told reporters.
It is not yet clear how much agents may have ‘scooped’
Said reports this lunchtime, details may become clear later this afternoon.
Says Jornal de Notícias, the whole thing was done “via an IT system mounted on tables in tents placed on the A42 by the Alfena exit, in the district of Porto.
“The IT system cross-referenced data using vehicle number plates and checking on whether their owners had tax debts…”
The initiative got underway early this morning and was shut down by 11am.
Lusa news agency suggested that drivers were randomly stopped and their number plates checked for owner-related debts as they sat in their cars.
Social media ‘outrage’ has been blistering.
Remark many, four months from national elections, this was not the kind of messages to entice voters to the Socialist cause.
