Government reduces 20% of tax paid by the Azorean companies under municipal tax on taxable profit
The Government of the Azores has approved a proposal for Regional Legislative Decree that aims to ensure a reduction of 20% in taxes paid by the Azorean companies under the municipal tax on taxable profit.
This 20% reduction in the rate of municipal tax on corporate profits is another tool to expand the tax differential that benefits Azorean companies, thus strengthening their competitiveness and the Region's ability to attract private investment.
This innovative measure falls within the powers defined in the Administrative Political Statute, which grants the Region with the power to legislate on matters concerning the adaptation of the national tax system, including the power to adapt national taxes to regional specificities under the terms of the Regional Finance Act.
With this measure, the Regional Government ensures the increase of the tax differential that benefits Azorean companies with regard to companies based in Mainland Portugal, thus reducing the tax burden.
The announcement was made today by the Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for Parliamentary Affairs at the presentation of the press release from the Council of the Government that met on São Jorge.
Under the Incentive Scheme for the Regional Development of the Azores - Subsystem of Support for Strategic Development, the Regional Government has approved an investment project, amounting to 3.9 million Euros, corresponding to the installation a photovoltaic park on the island of Terceira with an area of 3.05 hectares that comprises 8,756 photovoltaic modules.
The grant to be allocated amounts to 1 million and 605 thousand Euros, in the form of non-repayable subsidy, and 912 thousand and 100 Euros in the form of a repayable loan.
This investment is falls within the strategy to improve the penetration rate of the energy produced from renewable sources.
In education, the government approved the regional regulatory decree regulating the evaluation systems for teacher performance and the executive bodies of the units of the regional educational system established in the Statute of the Teaching Staff of Preschool Education and Basic Teachings secondary in the Azores.
Following the experience gained in the implementation of the teaching performance evaluation model in the Regional Public Education System, which has been in force since 2009, and its periodical evaluations, the Government has decided to proceed with the reformulation of the teaching performance evaluation model by simplifying it and making it more consistent with the professional development of teachers.
In this context, it is assumed that the evaluation has a qualitative and formative nature, the evaluation periods now have the duration of teaching brackets, generally every four years. It will be held every two years in the case of teachers who have reached the top of the teaching career or teacher hired on fixed-term contract. Moreover, classroom observation is only required in the awarding of the marks Very Good and Excellent or in the case of Insufficient.
In addition, there were also changes in the evaluation model of school boards, adapting it to the nature of the duties carried out by its members and the duration of their respective terms. The evaluation will be made based on a collegiate decision and will take place every term.
In order to promote greater efficiency and quality in the management of regional public schools the new model stipulated that the evaluation results may correspond to the allocation of teaching hour credits or increased budget or to the possibility of providing support and training to school boards in situation when it is necessary.