Taxes are likely to increase yet again if the Constitutional Court rejects the government’s latest measures included in the 2014 State budget, said Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho.
“If important measures that allow us to make substantial savings are considered unconstitutional, further tax hikes are a likely scenario,” the PM announced in Parliament on May 9, reminding his audience that the country “must reduce its deficit”.
Although emphasising that his statement was not meant to come across as “a threat”, he did say he could not guarantee that taxes would not increase again, and refuted claims that he had “lied” when he said the government did not plan to raise taxes.
According to the PM, tax hikes were “a last-resort alternative” to the Constitutional Court’s rejection of the government’s first proposals to reduce deficit, and the same could happen again soon.
A final decision by the Constitutional Court is expected in the coming weeks.
