Malta’s no to single European tax

Malta is opposing a proposal for a single European tax, insisting such harmonisation would harm countries and remove their flexibility to impose taxes they deem suitable, according to Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzopardi.

Addressing the Malta Business Bureau board members, Dr Azzopardi said while Malta agreed with the removal of tax barriers, it was against any attempt to harmonise taxes such as the proposal of a directive introducing the common consolidated corporate tax.

He said member states should have the flexibility to impose taxes they believed were suitable for their country.

On this, MBB president John Huber said the bureau would be “keeping a watchful eye” on the proposal. He said the country’s attractiveness as a business destination would suffer and some of the new, high-growth activities, such as financial services and pharmaceuticals, would be adversely affected.

He also spoke about the energy tax directive, a proposal to lower the thresholds for tax rates on energy utilities and the introduction of a carbon tax. He said the MBB was planning to carry out an impact assessment on the directive once the revised version was published early next year.

Dr Azzopardi believed the present penalties for breaches in copyright law were not serving as a deterrent. He said he would soon embark on talks to discuss this and other laws and discuss a way forward.

On the European proposal to re-launch the European Single Market Act, nearly 20 years since the creation of the Single Market, Dr Azzopardi said the internal market was Europe’s cornerstone.