Freedom at a cost

I totally agree with the government's commitment to control and improve Malta's finances, and fully understand that taxes are a painful but necessary revenue source.

However, the doubling of the departure tax for flights departing from Malta is an insult to all Maltese citizens now forming part of the EU community. We boasted of the advantages of freedom of movement upon our accession to the EU and now the government decides to impose a further tax on enjoying this movement.

Common sense would have dictated an increase in departure tax to non-EU European destinations, but certainly not to EU countries. A British tourist pays £5 (Lm3) in departure tax to fly to Malta; we pay a staggering Lm20 to fly out of Malta.

Recent data shows a decline in outgoing passengers, hence a decrease in tax collected, a decrease in revenue for Air Malta, meaning more tax out of our pockets and a total failure of this budget measure.

This is a tax on Maltese tourism and discourages air travel. Surely the government has alternatives other than the "travel industry" to generate tax revenue.