In practice, the party proposes that one third of the Road Service Contribution be reallocated to financing the tariff reduction for the use of public transport throughout the country.
"What exists today, the so-called Road Service Contribution, basically means that a part of the ISP [Tax on Petroleum Products] that people pay goes towards the payment of the road network, namely Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)", said Bruno Dias.
The approval of this diploma, he continued, will “serve systematically to finance public transport” in Portugal, specifically the tariff reduction.
Bruno Dias argued that this bill is another step towards free public transport, noting that it was welcomed by several mayors and civil society. It now remains to convince the other parliamentary groups, he said.
The communist deputy also explained that this change "does not mean" the increase in the tax burden on taxpayers, as it uses a "contribution that already exists", but only use "part of this revenue" and give it "a new destination" .
Thus, “every year there is a stable revenue, assumed from the outset, for public transport”, he concluded.
In support of the bill, the PCP parliamentary group states that the tariff reduction achieved in recent years, particularly in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto, demonstrated the importance of continuing this trajectory.
“Thus, it gains value and current, reinforced, the objective to advance in the future towards free public transport, in the national scope of this free service and in the reinforcement of the guaranteed service”, concludes the PCP.