Work matters above all else because it is the seed that allows for investment in health, education and social services to blossom, Nationalist deputy leader Simon Busuttil said yesterday. “Even if you don’t work yourself, you should be concerned about job creation, because your pension or social benefit hinges on others’ work,” Dr Busuttil argued.
The PN had reduced 25 taxes this legislature, he said. A PN government would implement the stepped income tax reduction announced in last November’s Budget and amend the law to make currently taxed minimum wage earners exempt, he said.
“They were being taxed because our policies made them better off. But on principle we don’t want to add to people’s tax burden, so we had no problem removing it,” he said when challenged as to the PN’s about-turn.
Both the proposals are also in the Labour Party manifesto – the parties appear to be in agreement on tax issues. Both want to broaden income tax bands and say they will clamp down on tax evasion. The EU reckons that Malta’s black economy may gobble up as much as one-fourth of the country’s GDP.
The parties also want to lower rental property taxes to 15 per cent from the existing 35 per cent rate, allow property sellers to pay a final withholding tax within 12 years rather than seven, and allow parents to transfer a residential property to their children tax-free.
The PN wants to eventually extend this latter measure to all such transferred property. It also wants to begin a pilot project for properties costing over €250,000, establishing stamp duty due before a contract of sale is signed.
Dr Busuttil argued that left-leaning governments had led other EU countries into economic dead-ends. He cited Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and especially France as examples.
“Wherever you look, the results are the same. Since [French President Francois] Hollande took over, unemployment is up. Under Sarkozy, France experienced economic growth,” he said, although he declined to mention the ballooning deficit and debt that Mr Sarkozy presided over.
Dr Busuttil also touched on electricity tariffs, saying people could reduce their daytime tariffs by making use of the PN’s incentives for alternative energy generation.
The Government’s decision to inject €25 million into Enemalta had prevented electricity bills from rising further, he said. Was the subsidy there for the long-haul?
“We cannot predict oil prices next year, or in five years’ time. The same goes for gas prices, for that matter. We’ll have to see where the country’s at at that point in time – we’re being honest,” he said.