Labour's surcharge proposal must rank as the most discussed electoral measure in this campaign, particularly as debate on the issue started well before the election itself was called. The only competition, in terms of attention, came from Labour's own reception class proposal and the Prime Minister's pledge to take over Mepa's reform if given a new mandate on Saturday.
But there's good reason why the economic proposals of both parties should attract attention: Despite talk of an end of ideological differences, the respective economic vision of all the main parties contesting this election reveals their political vision and the target audience they are pitching their message to.
With its proposal to cut income tax from 35 per cent to 25 per cent on all earnings below the €60,000 mark, as well as to raise the 15 per cent and 25 per cent thresholds, the Nationalist Party incorporates just about every income group below the very top earners. However, it is also sending a clear message to the middle classes.
Labour's surcharge proposal and its pledge to remove income tax on overtime are aimed at the lower middle class and working class categories.
Beyond that, however, the PN's economic vision, as is that of Alternattiva Demokratika, ropes in the rhetoric of environmental sustainability - again, higher on the priority list of middle-class values.
Labour, whose manifesto largely treats the environment as a distinct area, lays stress on social measures, with a great deal of emphasis on inflation, for instance, from which the surcharge proposal itself stems.
Azzjoni Nazzjonali, the only party to propose a gradual re-engineering of the income tax regime to an 18 per cent flat tax, also clearly shows on which side of the political spectrum it stands on taxation policy.
None of the main political parties includes any costings with the proposals. Heavily criticised for not substantiating its claim that halving the surcharge was sustainable, Labour had worked out that it would cost some €28 million (Lm12 million) a few months back when the price of oil was lower than it is today. However, the party still failed to produce the actual workings through which they arrived at the figure given.
In its manifesto it reiterates the pledge dryly, to the extent that the differentiation between household and businesses, announced by Dr Sant during the campaign, is not dealt with it in the document.
Similarly, and only after being pushed by the press, the Prime Minister said the PN expects its income tax revisions to cost up to €46.6 million (Lm20 million) but still did not release the workings.
All parties discuss a reform of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, in one way or another, but none of them really flesh out any specifics, save for AD, which argues for the separation of the authority's planning and environmental functions as they were before 2002. It also proposes that the authority's boards - whose decisions have come up for criticism of inconsistency - will be reviewed by a parliamentary committee.
The environment takes the lion's share of the PN's manifesto, yet, as with the economic proposals, a number of the measures suggested in this area are not pinned to any assessment of their financial or environmental feasibility.
The PN's promise to invest in a wind farm 20 miles offshore able to generate about 20 per cent of the energy at present coming from the Delimara and Marsa power stations combined, is not followed by a note on the feasibility of this very expensive project and how it could be financed.
Labour pledges again the development of two golf courses, one in Malta and the other in Gozo, yacht marinas in Gozo and even the exploration of land reclamation - all of them potential thorny issues on which it is likely to find strong opposition by the environmental lobby.
On education, which undoubtedly became one of the more controversial subjects during this campaign, the PN more or less reiterates the programme it had started implementing during this legislature through the setting up of colleges, for instance.
Besides the reception class measure, the MLP is also proposing to have classes restricted to not more than 25 pupils at primary level, to develop a new sixth form in the north and to increase the post-graduate scholarship fund to €2.3 million.
Despite having made good governance the centrepiece of its campaign, curiously the MLP fails to include the pledges, made repeatedly by Dr Sant, that his party would implement a Freedom of Information Act, A Whistleblower Act and introduce party financing laws, if re-elected.
Similarly, the PN makes no mention of the introduction of party funding legislation, which seemed to have gained some momentum last year but then lost steam towards the end of the year. It does pledge to introduce both the FOI and the Whistleblower Act.
AD insists on all these points, while AN proposes, among other things, to have a council of state and an elected President with more of an executive role to combat parochialism and corruption.
In the final analysis, both of the major parties fail to deal directly with the thorny social issues such as divorce, cohabitation and gay rights, despite the fact that both leaders acknowledged their importance during the electoral campaign.
In his Broadcasting Authority press conference on Tuesday, Dr Sant listed the above as more pressing issues when asked about Gift of Life's proposal to entrench anti-abortion laws into the Constitution, while reiterating that his party remains firmly against abortion. Similarly, Dr Gonzi, in an interview in The Sunday Times, said he has "no difficulty" to engage in a discussion about divorce and cohabitation when asked directly.
The smaller parties, on the other hand, spell out their positions, with AD being the only party to come out in favour of divorce, cohabitation rights and gay unions. AN rules out divorce categorically, insisting on a range of measures, including schemes of tax rebates, education and compulsory marriage courses for both civil and religious unions, to counter marital breakdowns.
How much of its programme the government that will be elected on Saturday will manage to implement is anyone's guess. One simply has to hold one's breath!
Nationalist Party
Economy
• The PN is committing itself to a positive financial balance by 2010.
• The income tax reduction thresholds of 15 and 25 per cent will be raised and the maximum tax on people earning below €60,000 will be lowered from 35 per cent to 25 per cent.
• It will substitute eco tax by registration tax.
• It will allocate €45 million to industry in the form of incentives and provide €30 million on new factory space.
• The party is also targeting a growth in the financial services sector to reach 25 per cent of GDP and employ 10,000.
Environment
• The PN is pledging again to redevelop the Opera House and Valletta Gate.
• Reform Mepa with the aim of increasing efficiency, transparency and accountability and ensure more consistent decisions, while stepping up enforcement, especially in the case of projects outside development zones.
• On this same point, the PN is promising to include more representation of civil society on Mepa, and, on the same lines, that it will set up a fund for the countryside along with civil society to purchase land outside development zones.
Education
• Here, the PN is promising to continue with reform in the Education Act and strengthen the colleges system for them to embrace kindergarten, primary and secondary in order to ensure a smooth transition with a modern method of continuous assessment and national benchmarking.
• Linking IT with education, the party is promising a computer for every four students and a laptop for every teacher.
• It is also reiterating its pledge to have a stipend system for students studying for a first degree abroad and to continue to increase incentives to parents who send their children to private or Church schools.
Health
• The PN is pledging to end waiting lists, introducing a management scheme that starts cutting waiting lists in a short span of time.
• It also pledges to establish targets of how long a patient can wait for what s/he needs so that people get the service in a "clinically acceptable time".
• If the problem persists, the government would enter into an agreement with the private sector.
Pensions
• The pension reform will be continued in a way that does not affect people who are already pensioners.
Good governance
• A special prosecutor with executive powers will be appointed to the Permanent Commission Against Corruption. The members of the commission will be appointed consensually by the political parties while the chairman will be appointed by the President autonomously.
• Appointments on government boards will be made after a public call and chairmen of authorities will appear regularly before the parliamentary committees assigned to their area to explain the policies of their organisation
• The PN is also promising the setting up of a sex offenders' register.
Malta Labour Party
Economy
• MCESD chairman will be allowed to attend Cabinet meetings when needed to ensure consultation at that level in Cabinet discussions.
• Focusing on industry, Labour is proposing setting up a task force made up of established industry leaders that will, in the party's words, work to improve the sector, targeting 2,000 new jobs from the sector within four years. Malta Enterprise will encourage investments in the industry that are "expected" to generate some 4,000 jobs.
• In the tourism sector the party says it will be targeting over three to four years about 1,600,000 tourists a year, expected to generate a revenue reaching some €1,450 million per annum, by easing the tax burden on the sector, boosting low-cost airlines and setting up a Gozo tourism authority, among other things.
Environment
• Labour is pledging to build two golf courses and new yacht marinas in Malta and in Gozo and that it will implement land reclamation projects.
• It will make investments to control the emissions from the Marsa and Delimara power stations and give incentives for alternative energy generation particularly wind and solar energy.
• On Mepa it says it will implement a "serious evaluation" of the authority's operations in order to make it more transparent.
Education
• A reception class will be introduced at the beginning of primary school.
• Classes will be kept at 25 pupils per class at this level and in some particular cases even fewer.
• Text books will be given free to all students.
• A new sixth form to be developed in the north of the island.
Health
• Pledges to reduce waiting lists for operations by 15 per cent.
• A process will be implemented through which the maximum a patient can wait for an appointment at any outpatient department will be a month.
• Establish a screening programme for women considered to be at high risk of breast cancer.
• In the mental health sector, the party is promising to revise the law relevant to mental health within a year and a half.
Pensions
• Between 2009 and 2010 a report will be presented regarding pensions reform following a wide consultation with the stakeholders involved, in a way that ensures the long-term sustainability of pensions. Following a national congress that will start in 2010, the government will implement a comprehensive reform of the pension system that would have been agreed upon with all stakeholders by 2011.
Good governance
• Labour is pledging to set up an internal audit unit within the Office of the Prime Minister that will carry out a professional audit on a regular basis throughout the government's departments and government companies.
• The party will adopt a zero tolerance policy in the face of any hint of corruption.
• A coordinating unit will be set up to ensure that all capital projects are done right the first time.
• Towards the end of local councils' term, an audit will be carried out to investigate whether there are pending commitments for capital projects that would result in that council posting a financial deficit.
AD
Economy
• AD is also proposing that the maximum rate of income tax should be reduced from 35 to 30 per cent but adds that in case of a need for a compensatory tax, banks should be taxed at 40 per cent.
• The greens are also proposing the setting up of an organisation for consumer protection which will be financed by the government while being independent of it.
• Like Labour, AD is proposing revising the surcharge mechanism but is suggesting that new rates based on the polluter pays principle be introduced rather than have a cut across the board in a way that the measure would be cost neutral.
Housing
• One of AD's main pillars is its position on housing, where it is insisting on the need of a comprehensive rent reform, which starts with making the inheritance of rent contracts illegal to eventually include all forms of rent under the previous regime. Wary of the social implications of the reform, the measure proposed by AD makes special references to elderly people renting under the old regime and in which cases the government should intervene compensating the landlord to ensure that the tenants in such cases are not evicted.
• Moreover, the party says it will promote an active rent market with the reduction of tax on income deriving from rent to 15 per cent.
• AD is also proposing that a basic standard of maintenance is enforced in order to increase the amount of property on the market, both for sale and for rent.
Good governance and civil liberties
• The party is insisting on the introduction of a Whistleblower Act that not only protects individuals who uncover corruption and are themselves clean but even people who have been involved in corruption themselves in order to break the complicity of corrupt social rings.
• The party also calls for a Freedom of Information Act and the urgent legislation of party funding laws, which is also one of the mainstays of the party's proposals.
• The party is calling for legislation regulating the rights of cohabitating couples of any sexual orientation.
AN
Economy
• AN is proposing a gradual shift from the present income tax system to an 18 per cent flat tax, which would also apply to companies that now pay a flat rate of 35 per cent.
• To overcome overspending on capital projects, AN is proposing to give the Auditor General and Parliament's Public Accounts Committee more powers to investigate overruns, which the party says are undermining the country's economic health.
• Companies which share profits with their employees or have similar schemes will be given tax incentives.
• The party proposes a series of family-oriented tax incentives and rebates aimed at encouraging people to stay home to take care of children, for instance, but also the elderly and people with disabilities.
Good governance
• AN is proposing a rather radical institutional reorganisation with the introduction of an elected President and the setting up of a Council of the State made up of former Chief Justices, Police Commissioners and heads of the civil service that would act as a bridge between the institutions.
• Parliament would be reduced from 65 to 55 members, elected from five rather than 13 districts. Ten of them would be elected nationally.
• Similarly, while retaining their current offices, local councils would be reduced and regionalised and the political parties' involvement in them removed.
• The President would be responsible for making a number of high profile appointments such as those on the PBS, Mepa and the Electoral Commission, in consultation with the government and the opposition and members from civil society.
• The Prime Minister will have the possibility of appointing technocrats to Cabinet who, however, would have no vote in Parliament
Discipline
• AN dedicates an entire section of its manifesto to discipline, calling for premeditated homicide and drug trafficking to be punishable with a life sentence without possibility of an amnesty.
• It is also promising the introduction of a sex offenders' list that includes pimps as well as actual perpetrators of sex offences such as rapists and paedophiles.
• The party calls for clear rules to be set on when the names of individuals arraigned should be made public and when they should not.
mmicallef@timesofmalta.com