LISBON: The president of the governing socialist party, PS Carlos César, said that the Government’s priorities up to the end of its term should be to review income tax brackets and improve the income of families, also through direct wages.
According to the president of the PS Parliamentary Group, the Socialist Government must have well-defined goals in the next two years.
Carlos César said these should include the allocation of more resources and to intelligently manage public investment following the exit from the Excessive Deficit Procedure, taking advantage of European funds, maintain the trajectory of the public accounts and the reputation of budgetary management.
César was speaking at the opening session of the second and final day of the PS Parliamentary Days.
At the same time, according to César, the government must “relieve the tax burden on people as much as possible, even changing the income tax brackets, and also continue to improve through direct salaries and social benefits.”
In addition to increases in social benefits and wages, César said the Government should “improve the National Health Service, reduce inequalities and focus on all aspects of modernisation and competitive efficiency.”
Earlier, the PS president had warned that despite good macroeconomic results, “nobody can forget that the country still has many inequalities, with about 2.6 million people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, affecting 487,000 children and 468,000 elderly people.”
“Although the poverty and social exclusion rate has declined in 2016, our obligations as PS, as leaders or as MPs – in the central, regional, local authorities and as citizens – are far from being able to let up,” he said.
