Minimum wage earners should not pay tax on their income and related benefits, Opposition leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday in his Budget reply.

“Change can only come if this Government changes lock, stock and barrel,” he told Parliament in a response to last week’s Budget, which is being overshadowed by the prospect of an election.

Dr Muscat said Labour would keep the Budget’s framework because it would be irresponsible and too late to reopen discussions with the EU after the election. However, the Opposition would vote against the Budget because it did not have confidence in the Government.

“The taxation of minimum wage earners is already a good enough reason to vote against the Budget,” he said, stressing that this exposed which party really wanted to “freeze” the income of minimum wage earners.

The Opposition leader promised not to withdraw any Budget-related benefits but vowed to remember those who had been forgotten.

Labour would also introduce all positive Budget measures retroactively so the cost-of-living-allowance, for example, would not be lost if the Budget were voted down. However, he stressed, this scenario should have been avoided by the Prime Minister.

Dr Muscat reiterated his pledge to reduce energy tariffs, acknowledging this would be one of his Government’s biggest “tests”.

“I make this promise because I know I will fulfil it. I can fulfil it. We need to fulfil it,” he said, after listing a number of Government fiascos and undelivered promises such as Arriva and Smart City.

The Prime Minister will reply to Dr Muscat’s speech on Monday, after which a vote will be taken in Parliament.

Nationalist MP Franco Debono has said he will vote against the Budget, which would trigger the end of the legislature and force an election within three months.

In reply to Dr Muscat, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech told a press conference that the Opposition Leader had not said how he would remove income tax for minimum wage earners. Describing the issue as a “storm in a teacup”, he said the Government had to make choices and those raising children were the priority and would not be affected by the measure.

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