The Government presented the State Budget proposal for 2026 and, once again, we are faced with a document that deceives the Portuguese. CHEGA voted against, and does so with a sense of responsibility and coherence because this is not a budget that serves the real country. It’s a budget that gives with one hand and takes away with the other.
There is talk of lowering taxes, but the highest tax burden ever remains. Support is promised, but they continue to punish those who work, those who produce and those who create wealth. It’s the old trick of those who distribute promises on the eve of elections and then, in practice, increase the bill for families and companies.
We tried to dialogue, we presented proposals, we looked for points of consensus. But there are lines that cannot be crossed. We cannot agree with a budget that takes away from those who work to give to those who live dependent on the State, those who do not produce, or those who arrive from abroad without ever having contributed. This redistribution without merit or justice is an affront to all Portuguese people who get up every day to work and pay taxes.
The reason for our vote against is, first and foremost, the tax suffocation that continues to strangle families and companies. The Government remains adamant in stopping the reduction of fuel tax, penalizing transport, tourism and family purchasing power. Meanwhile, the State collects record revenues from gasoline and diesel, remaining impassive in the face of the general increase in the cost of living.
We defend a real tax relief plan: immediate reduction in the IRS, end of the municipal surcharge, cut in fuel taxes and zero VAT on essential products. We cannot accept a budget that continues to pretend to support families, when it takes more and more away from them through indirect taxes.
This Budget is also a reflection of the incapacity of public management. In healthcare, it is not enough to throw money at a sick system. It is necessary to restructure, end privileges and reinforce meritocracy. The Government prefers subsidization to efficiency. It maintains the State’s heavy and unproductive machine, without the courage to reform nor the desire to modernize.
In pensions, the Government talks about increases, but what it provides does not even cover the increase in inflation. In terms of salaries, it talks about progress, but it does not reduce the burden on companies that could hire more and better. In the IRS, a relief is announced that is just an illusion: the Portuguese will feel the real weight when they make the final settlement and discover that after all they will pay more than they received.
This is a budget of appearance, not substance. It is a political performance by those who want to survive and not govern. The State grows, public services deteriorate, and the country stagnates. The Government prefers to finance a party structure disguised as public administration than to invest in productivity, innovation and economic growth.
We are not afraid to vote against or be consistent. We do not make decisions based on electoral calculation, but based on conviction. We voted against because we want to change the country’s course, because we believe that Portugal deserves more than survival management.
We want a lighter State, which serves its citizens instead of using them. We want tax policies that liberate work, not punish it. We want transparency, merit and responsibility. This State Budget represents the opposite of all of that. It represents a failed model that insists on rewarding dependence and punishing effort. Therefore, we voted against.
Because those who work cannot continue to support a system that lives on appearances. Portugal needs to grow, and not pretend to grow. Because the real country can no longer tolerate a Government that gives with one hand and takes with the other.
Economist and deputy to the Assembly of the Republic