Following news of his social security debts, amounting to around four thousand euros, Prime Minister Passos Coelho was on Thursday confronted by allegations that tax authorities had to enforce execution orders of his assets for debts which amounted to around six thousand euros between 2003 and 2007.
While the Prime Minister settled his social security debts relating to the period 1999 to 2003 at the end of last month as news first emerged of these unpaid amounts, his office this week declined to comment on revelations by Expresso newspaper that he has also had a series of run-ins with the taxman.
Earlier in the week, the Prime Minister - whose legacy will undoubtedly include empowering tax collectors to go to new extremes in the collection unpaid debts - defended his non-payment of taxes by arguing that he was “not perfect”.
Pedro Mota Soares, Minister of Labour and Welfare, has meanwhile laid the blame on the shoulders of social security services for failing to pick up on the Prime Minister’s unpaid contributions.
Passos Coelho is said to have paid these debts as soon as he was made aware of them despite no longer being legally obliged to do so due to the statute of limitations.
However, Público newspaper claims he only paid a debt of 2,880 euros, when the total amount outstanding is reportedly 5,016 euros. No penalties or interest were included in these payments, the daily said.
In response to the waves of criticism, Passos Coelho used a party conference to defend his actions or lack thereof: “I’m not a perfect citizen, I have my imperfections”, before he blamed revelations of his less-than-perfect tax history on a hidden political agenda, recalling that general elections are slated for this autumn.
“We have to prepare ourselves for everything. I would prefer if the fight was a political one, but our opponents have very little to offer”, Passos Coelho told the party conference on Tuesday.
He also made a veiled comparison of his current situation of grabbing the headlines for all the wrong reasons to that of other politicians.
“I never used my position as Prime Minister to hide differential treatment from any citizens, or to enrich myself, make pay-offs or to live beyond my means.”
Prior to news being made public of his grapples with tax authorities, he said: “I owe no taxes”, but “if they want to dig up my life they will, today about social security and tomorrow about something else.”
He also stressed that when he leaves the office of Prime Minister, he “will return to his life, paying my bank loans in accordance with my livelihood.”
On Thursday, and in a direct response to Passos Coelho’s earlier argument, former Prime Minister José Sócrates issued a letter written from his prison cell in Évora.
“This is a moment of clear desperation in the wake of the accusations on his failure to pay his dues. This way of exercising politics tells us all we need to know about who uses these tactics. By attacking a political opponent who is in jail defending himself against unjust accusations, Passos not only reveals that he is not a perfect citizen, but more so reveals his character and how close he is to moral misery.”
Passos Coelho’s predecessor concludes in the letter written to TSF radio by saying: “Instead of mud-slinging, he would be better advised to explain to the country whether or not he broke the law.”
In the meantime, a video of an address given by Prime Minister Passos Coelho last year where he tackled the issue of tax evasion has been doing the rounds on a number of social media networks.
In his speech, he states: “There are many who should pay taxes but don’t. And why? It is because they fail to declare work they have done. Well, we have a duty to correct these injustices. There is nothing more Social Democratic than this, and equality is what guides us. Nobody should receive any privileges.
“If a citizen fails in his obligations to society, be it by a little or a lot, this person becomes a liability for all others who carry a heavier burden.”