Portugal proposes taxing resident European pensioners

Portugal’s governing socialist party on Monday proposed taxing newly arriving European pensioners up to 10 percent of their annual revenue, scrapping massive tax breaks granted over the past decade.

At the peak of the financial crisis in 2009, Lisbon exempted Europeans from paying tax for 10 years on condition they lived in Portugal for six months a year.

But late Monday the socialist party introduced an amendment to the law that will mean pensioners arriving in 2020 and afterward will be taxed.

“Foreigners with the status of non-regular resident will stop being exempted from tax and will face a rate of 10 percent on their revenue,” Catarina Mendes, the leader of the socialist group in parliament, told a press conference.

The capital Lisbon and the beach resorts in the Algarve region have drawn thousands of pensioners to Portugal in recent years, particularly French, British and Italian citizens.

The ruling socialist minority that emerged from elections in October got the green light for its draft budget this month after its former far-left allies said they would abstain. A formal vote still has to take place.

The Socialists have 108 deputies in the 230-seat parliament, making it the dominant force.