Tuition refunds. PS challenges AD and Chega to "rethink whether young people are a burden or an investment"

The parties supporting the government, the PSD, CDS, and Chega, joined forces last Thursday to reject the Socialist proposal that aims to ensure payment of the salary bonus for the valorization of qualifications (effectively the refund of tuition fees), along with the IRS Jovem (Youth Income Tax). The matter was not resolved in the Budget, Finance, and Public Administration Committee (COFAP) and will be voted on again in the final plenary session of this legislative session, on Wednesday. Speaking to Jornal Económico (JE), PS MP Sofia Pereira emphasized that the party is insisting on the measure to "give the PSD and Chega a final opportunity to rethink whether young people are an investment or a burden on their agendas."

"Without any hope that young people will be a priority for these two parties," the leader of the Socialist Youth believes, nevertheless, that "common sense can prevail and a measure that should never have been interrupted can be reinstated."

The qualifications-based salary bonus, which effectively amounts to a tuition refund, is intended for young people up to 35 years old who reside and work in Portugal. It was approved by António Costa's government in 2023 and was included in the 2024 State Budget. Less than a month ago, the Minister of the Presidency, when asked about the continuation of this mechanism, said that the matter "must be revisited." António Leitão Amaro avoided clarifying the government's decision on the matter, but reaffirmed that the IRS Jovem (Youth IRS) is the government's preferred mechanism and postponed details on the transition between the two regimes until shortly.

What is certain is that this year's State Budget, already approved by Luís Montenegro's previous government, made no reference to this mechanism and the Government portal where applications are submitted continues to state that "no new applications are being accepted" and that "the deadline for submitting applications in 2025 has not yet been announced."

On the day of the rejection, at COFAP, the social-democratic deputy Hugo Carneiro called the PS proposal “useless”, arguing that the Government did not revoke the legislation on the salary bonus and did not say that it would not comply (…) And when it deems it appropriate, it will announce what it intends to announce”.

The Socialists counter, noting that, although the legislation hasn't been repealed, it isn't being enforced: "The PSD can't admit that this was a backdoor veto. The application form should have been open by the end of May. It wasn't. They lack the political courage to admit what they actually want to do with this measure, leaving thousands of young people without answers," laments Sofia Pereira.

Regarding Chega, the PS deputy accuses André Ventura's party of putting on "theater", which then ends up being "a crutch for the Government" to take up to five thousand euros from young people", and suspects that rejecting the socialist proposal "was a bargaining chip for the agreement it made with the PSD".

One of the arguments used by Chega to reject this measure, which she even said she agreed with, was that it had nothing to do with the issue at hand. The Socialist Party representative disagrees, arguing that the salary bonus is "a guarantee that the government doesn't give with one hand and take with the other." "There's a direct connection; Minister Leitão Amaro said that the tuition refund costs 500 million, and the IRS reduction costs 500 million. Obviously, it's important to consider this. It was just another ploy to avoid taking responsibility for anything," she criticizes.

The Socialists put forward this proposal to clarify that the salary bonus will be cumulative with the IRS Jovem (Youth Income Tax) during the discussion on the IRS reduction, a tax reduction made possible with the favorable votes of the PSD, CDS, Chega, and IL. The PS, although with "reservations," decided that it would not be an obstacle. The bill will still be voted on in Wednesday's plenary session, after which it will be sent to Belém for consideration by the President of the Republic.