"We feel wronged, frustrated and angry,” as yet again the car sector takes the brunt in the budget.
This is the analysis by the president of one of Portugal’s leading car association, Jorge Neves da Silva, who issued an outspoken criticism of the impact of the 2014 State Budget on his members.
Marginally higher road tax rates and huge rises in company and personal taxation rates for company car provision, and the inclusion of none of the sensibly crafted economic measures to invigorate the sector, has led to a perfect storm for the country’s dealerships.
Recently the industry associations have been involved in several parliamentary groups which had approved a package of measures to boost this vital sector including tax incentives to scrap the country’s stock of wrecks that are still on the roads. All recommendations have been ignored.
To Neves da Silva, the additional burden that companies now have to shoulder due to the 2014 budget will lead to more unemployment and bankruptcies in the sector, and in the allied garage and repair trade.
The general secretary of the Automobile Association of Portugal, Pedro Hélder also reacted, "Again, the automotive sector is penalised in terms of the tax burden. This is a sector where sales have fallen 50% in three years, so to see further increases in the tax burden is just discrimination."
