The Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Similar Services of Portugal (AHRESP) said today, 12 August, that the "temporary lowering of VAT on food and beverage services could prevent the growing loss of thousands of jobs," according to a statement.
«Given the dramatic impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the sectors represented by AHRESP, the association has been proposing, since the beginning of the crisis, the temporary application of the reduced VAT rate on food and beverage services», according to same note.
The association believes that this initiative can "directly and universally strengthen the treasury of companies and revitalize one of the economic activities most penalized by the pandemic situation."
«If implemented in Portugal, the VAT reduction would also sustain the increase in unemployment of thousands of people in these sectors», guarantees AHRESP, recalling that, according to official data released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), «in the second quarter In 2021, the HORECA Channel [hotels, restaurants and cafes] lost 32.400 jobs compared to the same period of 2020, when the crisis was already being felt intensely» in the sectors it represents.
According to the association, this level of unemployment, "which could have been avoided, could still be halted if the temporary application of the reduced VAT rate were implemented".
The association recalled that last year it presented a study with the international consultancy PwC, which concluded "that the temporary reduction in VAT would prevent the closure of 10 thousand companies and the destruction of 46 thousand jobs", but this study "foresees a drop. of 31,1% in turnover between 2019 and 2020, official government data revealed a drop of 41%».
“Lowering VAT on our economic activities has been a measure implemented in several countries around the world, putting our country in a competitive disadvantage position as a tourist destination”, assures AHRESP.
On August 5, AHRESP appealed to parliamentary groups to discuss and defend the reduction of VAT to the reduced rate of 6% on food and beverage services.
«As the discussion of the State Budget for 2022 [OE2022] approached, AHRESP appealed to the parliamentary groups to put on their agenda the discussion and defense of the reduction of VAT [Value Added Tax] on food and beverage services for the reduced rate (6% on the Mainland, 5% in the RA [Autonomous Region] of Madeira and 4% in the RA of the Azores)”, then informed the association, in its daily bulletin.
For AHRESP, this measure “would strengthen the companies' treasury and would be a way to revitalize this economic activity, which has been one of the most penalized by the pandemic situation that still exists”.
Moreover, the association has been defending this proposal since the beginning of the pandemic, which is enshrined in its plan “Fighting the pandemic – Ensuring survival”, sent to the Government in mid-July, with 10 measures to compensate for tourist accommodation and the restoration of the effects of the pandemic, including the reinforcement of the Apoiar program, a new lay off simplified and credit and tax moratoria.
Comments