The head of Portugal’s Institute of Chartered Accountants said today that the new free draw for taxpayers who have submitted receipts in the new 'Fatura da Sorte’ lottery should instead have been offered financial benefits rather than an expensive imported German car.
Domingues Azevedo, as chairman of the Institute, today criticised the 'disguised advertising' that the government has given to Audi, the brand of car chosen for the prizes, and said that money or tax rebates would have been more appropriate.
"The government should have taken care to not advertise just one of brand," commented Azevedo who said that opting for a financial prize such as the right to reduce any outstanding taxes or to be let off taxes to the value of the prize would be more advantageous all round.
"This then would not benefit just one brand, which ends up creating problems with other brands who have similar priced cars and whose resellers feel they have been treated unfairly,” said the country’s top counter of beans.
The Audi A4 and Audi A6 have been selected as prizes in the Fatura da Sorte lottery that starts on April 1st and Azevedo warned that choosing one brand may pose problems of 'transparency' in the whole process, and the government could have paid a lot less to aquire the vehicles, “for a company that is being spoken about every week on television, the cost of the car could have been greatly reduced because there is a direct and indirect advertising spin-off that greatly benefits Audi, the chosen brand.”
The accountant reminded the government that families are experiencing difficult economic times- they may win a car but still have no means to support themselves.
"I am not against the principle, because I agree with the encouragement (to register invoices online) but the draw hardly dignifies the tax collection system."
