The revenue collected by the State from extraordinary contribution to food distribution profits during the inflationary crisis remains unallocateddue to the lack of an order defining the final beneficiaries.
The Court of Auditors (TdC) warns that this situation compromises the objectives for which the measure was created.
A contribution, which was in force in 2022 and 2023, aimed to finance support for vulnerable families and micro and small businesses in commerce and catering.
Not total, to revenue generated was eight million euroswith three million charged in 2024 and five million in 2023.
However, the revenue is frozen, as who the final beneficiaries of the measure are has not been regulated. In the opinion to the General State Account of 2024, the TdC highlights that “the order from the members of the Government responsible for the areas of finance and economy, to regulate and identify, specifically, the final beneficiaries is still missing”.
This situation prevents the allocation of revenue and compromises the objectives established by the Assembly of the Republic.
A contribution of 33% applied to profits considered surplus, defined as those that exceeded by 20% the average recorded between 2018 and 2021.
At the time, António Costa’s government stated that the revenue would be allocated to financial support for the most vulnerable.
However, the idea behind these fees is that, ideally, no excess profits would be recorded, indicating that the measure would have fulfilled its function of discouraging speculative pricing practices.