The Social Democrat party leader in the Algarve, David Santos, had commented that the weighting attributed to sun exposure to work out property tax is "illogical and unreasonable."
The so-called ‘sunshine tax’ will hit the Algarve harder than other regions in Portugal, says Santos, as "on the one hand, on average, properties located in the Algarve have more sun exposure than in the rest of the country. On the other hand, because the region has the largest concentration of properties located in coastal areas with a sea views, this will be reflected in the amount of tax to be paid by the owners."
The PSD-Algarve leader believes that this is a tax move that will harm everyone, but will hit the poor the hardest as even poor quality old buildings will pay significant increases in IMT property tax just because they face south and have a sea view.
The Environment Minister agrees with the tax changes that could add 20% to rates bills.
"These changes in IMI property taxes passed the Council of Ministers of course had the approval of the Ministry of Environment," said Matos Fernandes.
Asked about the government’s desire to see south facing properties benefitting from solar panels to reduce carbon emissions, Fernandes said, "It is most important that we reduce household energy consumption. There will be direct support for this to happen, so that the property, regardless of which way it is facing, can be more efficient."
The minister added that, "it is most important that there are incentives for greater energy efficiency in housing and that these include home consumption. We can promote and directly finance the purchase of solar panels and batteries to conserve this energy to reduce each family’s energy bills."
