More power to the taxman

Apparently the tax inspectors will have even more power to fight evasion from 2006. That could be a waste of everybody's time.

Over the last couple of years, the tax offices have issued thousands of assessments dating back years, which they are unable to collect. Some because the assessments were already outside the legal time limit when they were raised. Others due to incompatibility between computer systems - Contribuição Autárquica and IMI are separate systems, requiring duplicate introduction of data by overstretched staff.

The overall effect is to clog the tax offices with taxpayers who wait hours to be told that their assessments will, indeed, be cancelled, one day. Meanwhile, many innocent taxpayers are prevented from carrying on their business due to the services' inability to process cancellations.

Those who praise the performance of Paulo Macedo in beefing up the taxman's powers have clearly never tried to contest an assessment, in person, at a tax office.

Recycle with Continente

Congratulations to Continente supermarkets on their recycling initiative. Aware that most customers later use their free carrier bags for household waste, the company has produced yellow bags for recycling packaging and blue bags for recycling paper.


This is the first post where I have nothing negative to say - better go and lie down for a while...

What a day...

"...
Oh, as voltas que a gente dá,
Oh, p'ra não sair donde está,
..."

(Paulo Gonzo, Sete Vidas)


Says it all really...

Lusoponte, again!

Who's the f***ing idiot at Lusoponte who decided to now remove all the Via Verde systems in Almada except in lanes 1, 2, 14 and 15? THAT'S NOT ENOUGH FOR THE VOLUME OF TRAFFIC.

How can anybody get away nowadays with giving a lower level of service - aren't services supposed to improve as time goes by?

You can complain here: http://www.lusoponte.pt/contacts.htm. I did.

Awful Goalkeeping

Looks like José Peseiro can do something right after all: Leave Ricardo on the Bench.

Scolari should take note.

What price progress?

Just out.

If José Sá Fernandes is elected mayor of Lisbon, he will be opening a public inquiry into the reconstruction of the city centre after the 1755 earthquake. It seems the Marquês de Pombal forgot the environmental impact study before authorising reconstruction work....

Anfield Road?

Strange phenomenon this blogging. Makes me research what I thought I already knew.

I hate those Portuguese football commentators who insist that Liverpool FC's ground is called Anfield Road. As a loyal fan, who has never been there, I was sure the ground is Anfield, always has been. Looked it up on The Stadium Guide, which confirms I'm right except that it has another entry for Anfield Road - the name of the stadium prior to 1892!

So I will continue to rant, especially if the Reds lose to Chelsea.

Portugal 1 - Rest of Europe 5

Can't blame the players
and it's not the coaches' fault

Maybe it's the fans.

The State as a Bad Example

I enjoyed the debate on SIC Notícias last night, which reached the conclusion that, so long as public figures behave in an unacceptable fashion, there is no hope for society.

The case in point was Fátima Felgueiras, who has immense popular support despite (allegedly) stealing from the very council that she ran "because everybody has their finger in the pie". No shame. No resignation from office. Worse, she's running for re-election as an independent!

The same principle applies to all aspects of public life. The military, who earn relatively badly, have elaborate schemes to skim off supplies for personal gain, from food to office supplies to appliances and building works on their own houses. They nearly all do it, always have. How can that be condemned if everybody knows and nobody acts?

Then we have traffic laws. Politicians (and lowly policemen) don't keep to the speed limit; abuse their privileges to overtake rush-hour queues on the hard shoulder. This cannot be justified by security considerations. Why should your average citizens worry about compliance if they have bad examples to follow?

The public have to demand ethical behaviour from public figures, not follow their bad examples...

TVI Program Classification

TVI is advertising that they will classify programs, with warnings "to help viewers". Where did I see this advertised? During an interval in "Commando" with Arnold Schwarzenegger, shown at 2 p.m. on Sunday!

According to IMDB, this film is generally rated "Adults Only" - not exactly appropriate for early Sunday afternoon, though TVI on-line considers it only M/12.

If TVI is worried about children seeing inappropriate content, why not use responsible programming, which is likely to be far more effective than a classification system.

It remains to be seen where and when the warnings will appear - permanently on screen, after commercial breaks, in printed and on-line programme listings, or just at the start of each program.