Portuguese PM under fire for failing to pay taxes on time
Reuters
Published Mar 06, 2015 01:22PM ET
Portuguese PM under fire for failing to pay taxes on time
LISBON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, who imposed the largest tax hikes in Portugal's modern history and is vying for reelection this year, has come under fire for failing to pay his own taxes on time.
Antonio Costa, the leader of the main opposition Socialists, said on Friday Passos Coelho had "abused his political immunity ... at a time of fiscal martyrdom for Portuguese who have to fulfill their obligations to which the government and this prime minister have been absolutely insensitive".
Several Socialists called for Passos Coelho to resign, but Costa said he would wait for the prime minister to explain himself in parliament.
Costa spoke after Passos Coelho acknowledged to Sol newspaper that "there were years when I declared and paid taxes past the deadline, but with fines and interest -- sometimes through lapse of memory, others because I didn't have the money."
Confronted with reports that tax authorities had to threaten to seize assets for back taxes worth some 6,000 euros in 2003-2007, Passos said he ultimately always paid what he owed.
"I have no debts with the tax service ... I was treated as any other citizen, without any privileges. I humbly recognize that I have had delays, I'm not proud of it, but I always paid everything and declared everything," he told reporters.
"I also paid everything to the Social Security," he said.
He has been accused in the media of having had debts with the Social Security for 1999-2003 which were only paid much later, and Publico newspaper has said he still owes over 5,000 euros. Passos said he had not been aware that payments were compulsory in his particular case at the time.
The Socialists lead in opinion polls ahead of the autumn general election but the ruling coalition is only slightly behind, a recent poll showed.
The centre-right coalition government elected in 2011 has imposed painful austerity including tax hikes and wage and pension cuts that stoked the worst recession since the 1970s. Lisbon exited its bailout last May and the economy is growing again.
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Written By: Reuters
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