Tax experts contacted by Lusa consider that the requirement made to married owners who did not opt for joint taxation of paying an addition to the Municipal Property Tax is illegal and raise questions about the constitutionality of this measure.

Rogério Fernandes Ferreira and Álvaro Silveira de Meneses, of RFF Lawyers, understand that “this option of the legislator is questionable on a constitutional point of view, in case it verifies that it is not a rational option that entails, as it seems, additional tax revenue.”

For tax experts, “the existence of obligations to choose that option [of joint taxation] and the compulsory requirement of repeating that option on a yearly basis constitute disputable and intolerable measures on a constitutional level, with regard to the purpose that they allegedly aim to pursue.”

Another aspect condemned by the RFF lawyers on a newsletter diffused on this day is the fact that the official tax office website (“Portal das Finanças”) does not allow the presentation of the certificate that allows the option for joint taxation, for the purpose of Municipal Property Tax, a measure that they consider “restrictive and disproportionate”, given that in what income tax matters, it is possible to present tax returns out of date, by paying a fine.