Feltom makes its case against bed tax

The Federation of English Teaching Organisations Malta (Feltom) is against any tax levied on students wishing to further their education, be they Maltese or foreigners, members resolved in the federation’s annual general meeting.

They said that international education was a must not a luxury and if the government pressed on with the 50c per bednight tax, it would deter the long stay students who came to Malta to study in the winter and shoulder months.

The tax, they said, was set to damage non European markets where the average student stay exceeded 12 nights, and if the government was adamant the tax should at least be capped at a maximum of nine bednights, which is the national statistical average length of stay.

The federation said the timing of the introduction of such a tax was crucial to the recovery of the sector following a year of significant downturn in the market.

Any additional taxation, which had to be seen together with increased utility rates, would serve to raise the cost of the Malta product at a time when the industry had to compete with countries of weaker currencies against the Euro, such as the dollar and sterling.

Consideration should also be given to the fact that hotels benefitted from subsidised utility rates when schools and those providing self-catering accommodation in residential apartments did not.

The federation insisted English language schools could not fulfil the role of tax collectors.

A good number of their students make their own direct accommodation arrangements and no school was to discriminate between its students in the classroom.

So if the government had to introduce such a tax, it had to find the means to do so directly without burdening educational institutions with additional costly administration.