Proposals on tax reform by June

A board of experts will submit proposals to the government by June on how it could proceed with a taxation review, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.

Dr Gonzi has already announced - during a public meeting at the Birkirkara primary school last week - that the government intends to carry out a review of the taxation regime if the country's financial targets are met this year.

Addressing PN activists at the party's Naxxar club, the Prime Minister said the government would start considering a tax reform as early as June.

On pensions reform, Dr Gonzi said the government was close to deciding on the pillars and the details of how the new system would work out in practice, adding the reform would be introduced over a number of years.

"We are in the last phase of this reform following months of public discussion," Dr Gonzi said, adding that the government could not postpone the decision if pensions were to be sustainable and adequate within 15 to 20 years.

Dr Gonzi then turned his guns on the Labour Party, saying the opposition wanted to postpone the reform "because pensions are tomorrow's problem" and condemning these "irresponsible" claims.

Turning to the environment, the Prime Minister criticised Labour leader Alfred Sant for his "incoherent" policies when it came to a number of issues including local councils and waste management.

Unlike the MLP, the PN was serious and responsible and could not postpone decisions, Dr Gonzi said.

Environment Minister George Pullicino said that by mid-March the government will call an international design competition for the landscaping of Maghtab.

Speaking alongside Dr Gonzi, Mr Pullicino said the government was also holding talks with a preferred bidder for a contract to install a system of steel shafts to get rid of the gases forming inside landfills.

"This is in line with the government's plans to rehabilitate the old rubbish dump and turn it into a recreational area," Mr Pullicino said.

Plans for the rehabilitation of Maghtab had been laid out in the Scott Wilson report made public last February, when Mr Pullicino had said the country was to make use of European structural funds for the project.

The rehabilitation of the dump entails reshaping the waste mass, extracting gases and capping the site before it can start being used for recreational purposes.