"Benchmark" - a new rude word in the Maltese vocabulary

The long awaited work of the tax compliance unit is underway. As promised this new body is seeking to reduce tax evasion and make sure that "Caesar is given what is due to Caesar".

Over the years, the Medical Association of Malta position was that all its members should abide by the laws and regulations of the country.

MAM supports any fair and just endeavour to collect tax due from persons who under-declare their income, be they doctors, tile layers or salaried employees who have an evening part-time job.

However, the end does not automatically justify the means, and notably the methods to be used by the tax compliance unit must be transparent, objective and applied equally across the board.

Although in its correspondence with the association, the tax compliance unit has agreed that there are wide variations in doctors' income, it has not yet made known the criteria and the methods which will be utilised.

Indeed, although MAM has specifically asked what methodology the TCU has used in working out its benchmarks, no reply was forthcoming. This has heightened MAM's fears of arbitrary benchmarks.

In this country everybody is familiar with two notorious words which have entered the Maltese vocabulary, namely the words "transfer" and "promotion".

Like the rest of the country, the MAM has witnessed great variations in the speed of a doctors' career progression, varying from complete "No-Nos" to virtual "passe-par-tout". It has also witnessed transfers of staff which are difficult to comprehend strictly from an administrative point of view.

Most unfortunately there has been at least one member of the medical profession who has received an income tax bill running in the thousands over and above the tax on his salary, when in fact this particular doctor did not even practise privately.

One must wonder what scientific methods the income tax department had used in arriving at this tax bill.

This is what the MAM is objecting to: an indiscriminate weapon which may be used by the state against its citizens in an arbitrary fashion.

MAM has unsuccessfully sought reassurance from the TCU regarding the methodology it has used. The association once again calls on the TCU to publicly declare its mathematical methods.

Doctors should give the state its due but the state must treat all its citizens fairly and equitably. Surely, no one can be against transparency.

Let us hope that the word "benchmark" will be an example of transparency and objectivity - and not another addition to the Maltese black book of vocabulary.