After all, won’t the OE25 be the “first budget without tax increases”?

The PS today accused the government of not telling the truth when determining an increase in the fuel tax, after guaranteeing that the State Budget for 2025 would not increase “a single tax”.

The PS Parliamentary Group considers that the increase in unit taxes on fuels contradicts the entire discourse made during the discussion of OE2025 that this would be the first budget without tax increase.

“The Government today ordered a tax increase on fuels to be in force from January 1, 2025”, says the PS Parliamentary Group, in a statement.

In 2025, the ISP, a tax on petroleum products charged as a fee on each liter of gasoline and diesel, will go up by about three cents from January 1st, compensating for the decline in the carbon tax.

In the ordinances with the new values ​​of the ISP unit rates and the carbon tax, published this Friday in the Official Gazette of the Union, the government emphasizes that the objective is to carry out the partial reversal of temporary measures that were taken by the previous government in order to offset the sharp rise in prices of fuels then recorded.

The update of the ISP unit rates on gasoline and diesel is carried out “in harmony with the reduction, in an equivalent valuethe addition rate on the CO2 emissions“, in order to ensure that the reversal of discounts still in force “does not have an impact on the price of fuel”, reads the diploma.

In a statement, the PS Parliamentary Group considers that this increase in ISP unit rates “corresponds to a political decision by the Government which contradicts the entire speech made during the discussion of OE2025 that this would be the first budget without tax increases”.

The PS highlights that this commitment was reiterated by Luís Montenegroin its broadcast on Wednesday, in which he stated: “We really approved the first budget in living memory that does not increase a single tax”.

“However, the Government omitted the Assembly of the Republicduring the discussion of OE 2025, which intended to increase ISP unit rates. He always indicated that the increase in ISP revenue was due to the ‘consumption effect and the ‘carbon tax update’. The Government failed to tell the truth with parliament and the Portuguese”, accuses the PS parliamentary group.

The PS highlights that “with the carbon rate falling due to the effect of the European auction market, an effect that was already predictable When presenting the OE”, the Government “decided to compensate this tax relief on fuels with an equivalent increase in taxes, through the ISP unit rate”.

“It stays like this, once again, the Government’s trick is unmasked who, despite being questioned several times, always denied that he was preparing to enact a new increase in taxes on fuel”, he criticizes.

In the statement, the PS says that, at the Finance Minister’s parliamentary hearing on December 19, “it was already possible to show what was going to happen and which had already been warned throughout the OE discussion. The Portuguese know today that this Government raise taxes for next year“, accuse the socialists.

The increase in ISP unit rates by an amount equivalent to the impact of the drop in the carbon rate on the composition of this tax was cited by the Minister of Finance, Miranda Sarmentoduring a hearing requested by the PS.

At this meeting, the socialist deputy Antonio Mendonça Mendes asked the governor about What policy would be followed by the Government? given the already expected fall in the carbon tax and whether the tax burden would ultimately worsen.

This reading was refused by the ministerwhich reaffirms that the overall value paid by consumers remains unchanged, having previously a recomposition of the ‘mix’ of the ISP — which, in addition to the unit taxes and the carbon tax, also incorporates the contribution from the road service.

Miranda Sarmento has highlighted that the need to start reversing fuel discounts results from Brussels’ reservations to the medium-term budget plan submitted by Portugal.

Tolls, rents and transport with increases

The year 2025 should be marked by a decline in the inflation ratebut families will face the need for some services and goods, such as tolls, rent, telecommunications and bread.

Os electricity prices are an exceptionsince both in the regulated and liberalized markets, tariffs are expected to fall next year.

Families in the regulated electricity market would have a tariff increase of 2.1% from January, but, in practice, with fees and taxeswill have reductions of between 0.82 and 0.88 euros, due to the legislative change that increases the value of energy consumption subject to the reduced VAT rate (6%), approved in parliament.

In the liberalized market, which represents the vast majority of total consumption, in mainland Portugal, EDP Comercial and Galp announced reductions of 6% in the electricity component of the bill, due to improved market conditions (in the case of Galp in force since December 1st).

Meanwhile, an official EDP source stated that EDP Comercial customer bills should fall by an average of 7%, starting January 1st.

As Motorway tolls are expected to increase by 2.21% in 2025, based on the value of annual inflation without housing in October determined by the National Statistics Institute (INE), plus 0.1% compensation to concessionaires.