Members of the agricultural fraternity 'oop north have in protest decided to pay their new Social Security obligations in potatoes and vegetables.
All Portugal’s farmers that sell anything at all are now required to register that they are economically active, no matter what size turnover they expect, and therefore will have to make social security payments, often in excess of their incomes.
But the Douro’s hardy winemakers and farmers have decided to make a point and to pay the Social Security in Vila Real with potatoes and other vegetables in a symbolic act to protest at thenew tax obligations.
The initiative was dreamed up by the Association of Independent Douro Winemakers (Avidouro) "the requirement for small and medium farmers to comply with Financas and social security brings quite a burden, mainly because their incomes are low or close to nil," said the leader of Avidouro, Berta Santos.
All farmers with any commercial activity at all are now required to declare the start of their activity before January 30th 2014.
Santos said that because they have to register, small producers are also required to pay Social Security, which in some cases exceeeds their income with many farmers "willing to cease operations because they can not cope with these taxes as they will not have sufficient income for it."
To highlight this very silly situation, of which the government is well aware and refuses to anything about, these wine growers and farmers will "symbolically pay Social Securitywith a selection fo seasonal vegetables - potatoes, onions, garlic, whatever is in season of has stored well over the winter months.
The minimum payment for newly registered farmers is €62 per month which may well be below the total value of all their sales.
In protest, bags of veg will left in the Social Security building in Vila Real while Avidouro calls for the immediate suspension of the new rules for small and medium producers, many of whom just sell grapes one month of the year, by which time their social security payments will have been several hundred euros.
Nothing so interesting is planned for the Algarve but the situation is the same with many markets expecting a sharp decline in the number of sellers of regional produce as it simply will not be fiscally viable for small farmers to pay social security payment that exceed their incomes.
So, another part of Portugal's cultural heritage stamped out overnight by an illogical insistence for fiscal equality.
