Interest demanded from Lisbon town hall on repayment of aborted tax

LISBON, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Portugal's Social Democratic Party (PSD) insisted on Tuesday that Lisbon town hall must add interest onto repayments of a municipal tax declared unconstitutional in December.

The PSD called on the Socialist Party (PS) mayor to "send every municipal taxpayer a complaint form so that everyone can claim back, free of charge, all monies owed to them from the liquidation of the Civil Protection Municipal Tax (TMPC) plus compensatory interest," the Lusa Portuguese News Agency reported.

Fernando Medina, Mayor of Lisbon, agreed in January to pay back the 58 million euros the TMPC had raised. He has, however, repeatedly ruled out paying interest.

But according to the PSD, "it's the town hall's duty to restore the situation to how it would have been had the annulled charges never taken place, and that means paying indemnity in the form of interest."

Lisbon property owners began paying the TMPC in October 2015. The tax was introduced to replace a drains maintenance and conservation tax, which became the responsibility of the sanitation department.

In March 2017, Portugal's ombudsman questioned the constitutionality of the TMPC. Medina maintained the tax was legitimate and essential to the city's fire fighting and public safety services.

In early December 2017, the PSD, backed by the Central Social Democratic-Popular Party (CDS-PP) and the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), put forth several motions to repeal the tax. Medina used the PS majority in Lisbon's Municipal Chamber to vote each one down.

However, by the end of the month, the Constitutional Court had declared the TMPC unconstitutional.

Lisbon town hall promptly agreed to pay back the money the tax had raised. Some 223,467 taxpayers were identified as being due for reimbursement.

But whether interest should be paid has become a major bone of contention. Medina has requested a legal opinion from the office of the Attorney General.

The TMPC was originally introduced by Antonio Costa, Portugal's prime minister, who preceded Medina as mayor. Enditem