Portuguese government has submitted a proposal to parliament, promising not to raise income tax until at least 2017, local media said on Thursday.
The Portuguese government sent its state budget for 2015 to parliament last Wednesday, with Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho pointing out that the government had chosen "not to adopt additional measures."
Portugal has undergone three tough years of spending cuts and tax hikes to meet a bailout program the country signed in 2011, when it was on the verge of bankruptcy, with the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.
The European Commission said that given Portugal's high government debt, the country should be looking to continue to raise some taxes.
The budget, which will maintain austerity measures for the country to meet a deficit target of 2.7 percent of GDP, will ease austerity for some. For instance, next year corporate tax will be cut to 21 percent from 23 percent and pensioners will be exempt from a special tax of 3.5 percent.
Personal income tax will only be cut if it manages to clamp down on tax evasion and fraud, the government said.
The debt-laden country has been praised by its lenders for its massive rises in tax but the country has been hit by successive street protests and has faced numerous legal challenges by the country's constitutional court.
Portugal's 2013 deficit fell to 4.9 percent of GDP and is expected to drop to 4 percent this year. Enditem
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