Portugal's Prime Minister promises to lower taxes next year and that there will be a decision on the minimum wage increase "very soon."
Pedro Passos Coelho today said that there is "no one in the government that is not working hard to reduce the tax burden, but this will only happen if conditions in the country permit."
"Already for 2015 we plan to remove some of these extraordinary taxes. Others we already have started to remove, this is an issue where reality will dictate whether it is possible or not," said Pedro Passos Coelho.
The PSP leader spoke to reporters before a PSD national council congress in Leiria saying that he wanted to raise the national minimum wage and hopes soon to be able to make a decision but added that there needs to be a consensus and any rise should be linked to productivity growth, "in order not to jeopardise the sustainability of companies and therefore not generate unemployment for the future."
"In the past in Portugal there was a strategy that basically started in the ‘60s and lasted for a few governments beyond April 25 1974 which emphasised that Portugal could attract foreign investment due to the low wage rates in the country," continued the Prime Minister, adding that "this is not the model we want for the future.£
Next year is election year and if Passos Coelho can avoid prosecution in the Tecnoforma affair which is threatening to bring his personal fiscal probity into question he will be looking at creating as many tax give aways as possible in the time-honoured pre-election manner.