Tax discrimination against imported cars

Can anyone please explain why the Maltese government is being allowed to practise active discrimination against both their own citizens and foreigners?

Having been rapped over the knuckles because of the illegal practice of charging huge motor vehicle importation and registration duties, the government finally accepted that it was wrong and reduced these taxes only to replace them with other discriminatory taxes.

The VAT element that one was forced to pay, also declared illegal by the EU, has now been scrapped but, of course, no refunds are being made - basically the government is saying: "We taxed you illegally and got away with it!"

Now we find that if we have a car which was originally bought in Malta we will pay one amount for the Annual Circulation License Fee but if we import exactly the same car from the UK then we have to pay a much larger annual licence fee. How can this be legal and non-discriminatory?

In April 2008, Minister Tonio Fenech was quoted in The Times as saying: "We will also be taking steps to address other issues mentioned by the Commission, including that of discrimination on cars imported from within the European Union and those imported from outside the EU. This is a whole complex reform that we are working on and we hope to announce the details soon."

So, Mr Fenech, is this your idea of non-discrimination?