“We will work together with all those countries to clear these subjects,” Centeno said, without elaborating.
Portugal’s so-called non-habitual residents program has also caused tension at home, with the Socialist government coming under fire for providing tax breaks to foreigners while many of its citizens struggle financially -- Portugal’s tax burden reached a 22-year high in 2017, according to a report by the public finance council. Critics also complain that the influx has helped bolster real estate prices, which according to the country’s statistics office rose 9.2 percent in 2017.
Portugal’s Left Bloc party, which along with the Communists supports the minority Socialist government in parliament, sees the non-habitual residents program as one of the main factors behind rising real estate prices, a party spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. It will propose changes to this regime and to the golden visa program in the negotiations for the next budget.
“When you don’t tax one group of people you end up having to increase the tax burden on another group. That’s unfair,” said Ricardo Cabral, a professor of economics at Portugal’s University of Madeira.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.