Volt Portugal wants taxes on prostitution and drugs and nuclear energy | Legislative Elections 2022
Volt Portugal wants to legalize activities such as prostitution and the sale of soft drugs and thereby increase tax revenue, allow workers to be fired for insufficient productivity and bring nuclear energy to Portugal.
The proposals are included in the electoral program of this party, which will debut in a scrutiny in Portugal in the legislative elections on the next 30th.
At the fiscal level, Volt Portugal advocates a lower Corporate Income Tax for companies that pay higher wages and the introduction of new taxes, namely on goods that are harmful to health (sugar, red meat and processed foods) and also on medicinal products without scientifically proven benefits.
The Volt also increases tax revenue through new activities, whose legalization it advocates, such as prostitution and the sale of soft drugs.
This party, which runs for 19 of the 22 constituencies, advocates regionalization and defends the construction of the new Lisbon Airport in Alcochete, with connection to the city through a new contracted crossing on the Tagus, via Barreiro.
Considering that “Portugal is one of the OECD countries where the process of dismissing workers is more restrictive, uncertain and time-consuming”, the Volt proposes to broaden the concept of dismissal for just cause to allow companies to terminate the employment contract due to insufficient productivity .
“This measure thus seeks to associate dismissal and performance evaluation, allowing, for example, that workers who are taken negatively for two consecutive years can be dismissed for just economic reasons”, reads the electoral program.
It also advocates a more generous unemployment benefit during the first three months of unemployment, and longer, as well as the creation of incentives for “greater adoption of partial or total teleworking schemes, where justified, accompanied by legislation that protect workers’ privacy in order to improve the quality of life of workers who benefit from this type of work”.
“This can also help to combat desertification in the interior of the country and allow Portugal to become a “hub” of remote labor for companies throughout the European Union (EU)”, the document continues.
Volt Portugal wants to legalize passive euthanasia (when a person dies because medical professionals either don’t do something necessary to keep a person alive, or stop doing something that keeps the person alive) and legalize assisted suicide for competent adults (when the person makes the request of their own free will, not coerced or pressured by others, and with full awareness, to end their life, and seeks professional assistance in cases of constant and unbearable physical or mental suffering that cannot be alleviated”.
This party is firmly opposed to active euthanasia, that is, when a doctor, or other person, intentionally administers a fatal dose of a drug to cause the patient’s death at his/her request and with full consent and permission, with a primary: allow an active euthanasia only when a person fulfills all the conditions for assisted suicide but is physically incapable.
On the other hand, Volt Portugal proposes a legalization of altruistic surrogate maternity agreements, but also advocates an investigation of “potential ways to legalize surrogacy agreements of a commercial nature, while ensuring the power of black markets” .
The “legalization of the consumption of some soft drugs, such as cannabis, based on the Dutch model of restricted consumption in predetermined places “e” to meet and commercial inspection of this type in order to ensure its safety and transparency and discourage the consumption of low quality substances and hard drugs “are measures that are also included in this electoral program.
In education, Volt Portugal defends free day care centers and kindergartens for all children and the “formal introduction of an optional and eminently practical ‘year zero’, in anticipation of the course in higher education, with the application of programs vocational guidance capable of providing basic and practical knowledge in the area preferred by the students”.
Assign a family health team to each resident in the national territory, within the scope of an organization of primary health care in a single model of Family Health Units, the expansion of the Dentist Check and the creation of a Check Glasses, as well as the creation of National-level mental health support groups are advocated for health measures.
In justice, Volt Portugal proposes investing in training police officers to deal with hate crimes and strengthening law enforcement mechanisms to end police violence, harassment and ethnic profiling, “ensuring that the police comply with their duty to protect a society”.
To improve the provision of public services, Volt Portugal wants to create a “Public Family Administration” (APF), which will serve as the first point of contact with the State, in the same way that the family doctor serves as the first point of contact with the National Health Service (NHS).
The attribution of cultural checks worth 200 euros for young people aged between 16 and 19, with the aim of providing them with an opportunity to access cultural events in their area of residence is another measure advocated, together with the creation of a secretariat State of the Elderly, Retired and Pensioners to study the needs of this population and plan how to respond to those needs.
The party also wants to create a Ministry of Digitization that centralizes state-level knowledge and experience related to digitization and the capacity to plan the digital transition of State services in a more efficient and uniform way.
