AD would give voters the voice they never had in Parliament - Briguglio

M. Cardona

Feb 18th, 17:17

Emanuel Curmi,

I trust you remember what happens when people throw wild defamatory accusations around?

THIS should be a wake up call to all those like you.

Wishing you all the best of course.

B. Cachia

Feb 17th, 16:25

Neither of the two main parties is "giving a lot of freebies to everyone". If you actually check out the programmes and do some basic costings you'd realize that proposals are actually quite modest and doable. If whoever wins won't get the job done, they'll be replaced and someone else will do it.

Alternattiva is actually proposing higher income taxes as a matter of "principle" and of policy.

Robert Callus

Feb 17th, 16:59

1) Their costings only show how much they're going to spend not from where the money's going to come from.

2) AD is NOT proposing higher income tax. We're just saying that reducing income tax would be suicidal for the country

3) The tax we're proposing is for vacant property (3rd onwards) for speculation purposes. It's not about principles but for sound environmental and economic policy.

B. Cachia

Feb 17th, 18:27

Robert, you're proposing to reverse the tax cuts announced in the last budget and backed by the Labour Party also. You are the party of high taxes.

Reuben Zammit

Feb 18th, 00:31

PN proposed and PL approved tax cute for the highest-income earners Mr. Cachia.
That means that anyone who earns more than 19,500 a year would pay as much tax as someone who earned more than 14,500 but less than 19,500.
Which means that those who can afford to most will not be giving back enough to the society which helped them get where they are through its services and education in the 1st palce

D Borg

Feb 17th, 16:21

@ Joe Grech

That is the PNPL machiavellian strategy - to keep themselves in absolute alternating governments without any accountability or political responsibility.

the best case scenario would be AD garners enough 1st & 2nd preference votes to make it to parliament, altenatively a good number of votes will be sending a message that voters deem that the revision of the Electoral law is overdue.

B. Cachia

Feb 17th, 13:33

If you want to limit hunting and free the countryside join Birdlife and show up at protests, support people like the ramblers and make your concerns known to you local MPs. Voting AD is just wasting your vote. In any case, the environment is no longer their primary policy, they're now more of a radical left wing party than the liberal environmentalist party they once were.

anthony sultana

Feb 17th, 14:24

@ B Cachia
We need a voice in the parlament to be effective,we allready know where PN & PL stands .There is nothing to loose if we try the AD party, actually we will get more attention in the future, from both parties.You don't have an idea how backwords we are compare to other small islands like ours, I give you one example,Florida Keys is like a dream land, Malta is full of man made eyesores.

D Borg

Feb 17th, 14:59

B. cachia

AD is much more than the hunting or environment issues.

It is the credible and objective voice that is required to stop the PN & PL from pointing fingers at each other, and finally start effectively co-operating to tackle overdue issues so we may enhance our quality of life, be it the environment, fair & equitable taxes, social welfare, transparancy, civil rights, and accountability

B. Cachia

Feb 17th, 16:30

@ D Borg: Exactly, they're not mainly about the environment, they're a radical left-wing party. If you look at their electoral programme and their public statements you'd see that they're proposing to raise your marginal income tax rate at least back to 35%, for example.

D Borg

Feb 17th, 17:01

@ cachia

With all due respect - a naive comment at best!

I have read AD's proposals, and their concern is that the PN is proposing reducing taxes for the very rich only, thus undermining the practical world wide progressive and proportionate tax regime.

More importantly the salient question is not what the tax rate is, but how are tax funds being managed by governments - AD has a crucial role

B. Cachia

Feb 17th, 18:25

@ D Borg: With all due respect, that's not what is being proposed by both PN and PL. Currently, the 35%rate kicks in at 19,500 euros, which does not make you one of the 'very rich', it makes you a middle class person. What both parties are rightly proposing is to extend the 25% tax band so that it does not hit the middle class. Alternattiva is opposing a policy that nurtures and rewards hard work.

D Borg

Feb 17th, 18:49

Mr. Cachia

and what does Eur60,000 and still paying 25%, makes you?

We have a Public Debt spiralling to 80% if one takes into account the liabilities of public authorities with government's guaranttes, and a pension time bomb which both the PN&PL are afraid to start addressing, and they want to have a regressive amendment, over and above the waiver of sucession tax on property.

Wait for the ECB

B. Cachia

Feb 17th, 19:36

D Borg: Yes, 60,000 euros per annum still makes a family middle class, it certainly does not make you a tycoon. But the measure primarily affects people who are earning much less than that.

As for the national debt, this will rise if the economy performs poorly, and reducing the marginal income tax rate for the productive elements of society is one way to help prevent that.

Robert Callus

Feb 17th, 14:04

Ironically, if we were invalid they would not have been so up in arms. Neither would the FKNK have informed all it's members not to vote for us.

M. Cardona

Feb 17th, 18:43

Robert Callus,

I trust you know hunters are aware how much A non D esteems them. Don't worry with the hunters' votes. You'll garner those of the anti-hunting majority. No?

AD was, is and remains INCONSEQUENTIAL with equally inconsequential supporters. Wait and see the results in the coming elections.

BTW I hope you find the results equally funny R Mallia.

M. Cardona

Feb 17th, 11:39

And that's exactly what they really deserve after all.

M. Cardona

Feb 17th, 11:38

Feel free to go ahead and waste your vote on this non-entity which under the guise of democracy would so much love to be in a position to dictate onto others.

:-)

D Borg

Feb 17th, 11:41

Yes the PN & PL have in a machiavellian way made it disproportionally difficult for any third party to break their absolute alternating government duopoly.

Nonetheless, albeit against the odds a good number of 1st preference votes, PLUS a healthy number of 2nd preference votes may just make it, so as finally there will be an objective voice in parliament, just as we saw during the TV debates.

D Borg

Feb 17th, 11:46

Mr. Cardona,

Are you worried you will no longer be able to hold the PN & PL at ransom over the unsustainable and egoistic hunting, your peers illogically refer to as 'hobby'?

In fact hunting is a case in point where AD's intervention is crucial, to enact and above all enforce proper hunting regulations, including restricting hunting to hunting zones, whilst making the rest of the islands safe.

M. Cardona

Feb 17th, 11:59

D Borg,

now aren't you concerned about your dear Alternattiva "Demokratika" (which ironically seeks to deprive others of their democratic rights)?

Haven't you reiterated ad nauseam that the vast majority against hunting? So why worry? I'm sure AD will make it this time......yeah right.

But rest assured we love you equally dearly, most endearing AD.

"Safe" is AD consigned to history. :-)

M. Cardona

Feb 17th, 12:03

D Borg

egoistic? Look who's talking. AD which would like to grant liberal access to all on private properties. BTW I'm still awaiting for a declaration from any AD exponent, that his personal private property is free for all to enjoy. And some do have private countryside tracts, only that they don't want picnickers/ramblers/birders to trespass on theirs.

Bye bye you and your AD :-)

B. Cachia

Feb 17th, 13:29

In fact, 2000 votes are far short of what you need (I think they're assuming that they'd get a similar number of no. 2 votes and so on). And Alternattiva's votes aren't concentrated in a specific part of the island, so they'd have to get around 26,000 votes nationally in order to have 2000 in each district, which is about 10%, and they're nowhere close to that goal.

D Borg

Feb 17th, 14:55

M. Cardona,

Call again when you finally learn how to understand what you read.....

M. Cardona

Feb 17th, 17:02

D Borg,

oh thanks so much for your genuine concern. Such lovely chaps these Alternattiva "non" Demokratika supporters, I find them so endearing. So, D Borg am I now at fault for your limitations?

A Azzopardi

Feb 17th, 21:35

M. Cardona, why are you so up in arms about this? It is almost as if you are afraid that AD might some day get elected. Are you paid by PN or PL to go on forums and use your scare tactics of wasted votes? Are you afraid that if AD get elected, someone you know might lose his monopoly over parliament and over some laws. If you know what I mean. ;).

M. Cardona

Feb 18th, 17:13

A Azzopardi;

.................yawn, sleep, dream, wake up and AD will still be eying getting a seat in parliament, only they'll remain perpetually eying it from outside. Then yawn some more.

:-)

D Borg

Feb 17th, 11:36

Mr. Camilleri,

why don't you bring out Lino again?

M. Cardona

Feb 17th, 12:08

D Borg,

we don't have to bring anyone out. AD will manage to sink themselves even further without help from anyone.

This issue is not bringing anyone out but rather keeping the dogs in and under proper leash. And the Maltese electorate will do just that. But you are nonetheless entitled to your three more weeks of wishful thinking. Then AD will disappear for 5 more years; at least.

B. Cachia

Feb 17th, 10:33

What good policies? A softer immigration policy, higher taxes and a bigger government? I'd hardly call those good policies.

Noel Cuschieri

Feb 17th, 11:25

@ B. CACHIA,
You are very negative with your comments, and unfair towards someone/people who is/are trying to make some (genuine) contributions to the country. Yes, Alternattiva have come up with some good PROPOSALS for the next 5 years. And YES, Mr Zammit is right; these guys DO DESERVE our support and votes this election.

B. Cachia

Feb 17th, 13:24

I don't dispute their good intentions, it's just that their proposals would harm us all. Other parties have tried these policies in the past with little success. We did in fact have very high income taxes in the past and it didn't do us any good. Likewise, we did have a more government-centric and redistributive approach and it led to an economic dead-end.

M. Cardona

Feb 17th, 12:11

In Malta we have a local delicacy; Kannoli with ricotta/cream filling.
We also have a saying; Kannol bla krema.

Noel Cuschieri

Feb 17th, 11:31

Mr Cardona, we need diversity in our parliament.... and contributions from different quarters....

D Borg

Feb 17th, 11:47

Mr. Cardona,

are you implying that hunters are the overwhelming majority by any chance?

M. Cardona

Feb 17th, 12:09

D Borg;

I really love this song;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrecCqAPfPw

It nice to know one's love is reciprocated.

:-)

Noel Cuschieri

Feb 17th, 11:28

Can you please substantiate on your comment?

Paul Zammit

Feb 17th, 10:39

quit the parroting. use your brain instead.

twanny borg

Feb 17th, 14:45

Ghalhekk ma nivvutax AD ghax nuza mohhi.