Contradictory policies

Its extraordinary how a purely colonial trait that is so old that it exists, immortalised, in the world of literature has in Malta become institutionalised by central government. Only the other day a group of EU expats living here protested outside Castille about the discriminatory service charges that they, as expats, were being forced to pay. Wearing amusing cow badges they reiterated they are not cash cows and that their money is hard-earned as anyone else’s.

I have witnessed grocers and vegetable vendors overcharge foreigners without turning a hair simply because they are foreign

Having a long memory it is easy to see how this came about. I clearly remember my mother’s and my grandmother’s generation grumbling that whenever any domestic was employed by the “Ingliżi” they were spoilt forever as there was no way that Maltese income in those days was going to match that of the British Raj.

All over the still English-speaking, ex-British Empire world, the presumption that once you are ‘of the Raj’ you are automatically an easy touch still persists with swarms of beggars and vendors plaguing your every move in India and Egypt to name but two places where I myself have experienced it ad nauseam.

Next year we will celebrate 50 years of independence. For those of us who still remember the days of the Raj it is not difficult to understand the general attitude of an ex-colony towards a ‘foreigner’ which in popular-speak is invariably referred to as an Ingliż whether he be Dutch or French, in the same way that the sub-Saharans and all asylum seekers are referred to as “torok”!

I have actually witnessed grocers and vegetable vendors overcharge foreigners without turning a hair simply because they are foreign. The worst hit are the language students who haven’t a clue what the right price to pay for an apple or an orange is while their parents wouldn’t be so easily hoodwinked.

When this attitude becomes institutionalised government policy then things verge on the absurd. We born and bred Maltese are finding it difficult enough to pay our extraordinarily high energy bills at present.

The promise that these would be reduced was one of the new government’s most convincing arguments. Expats pay 30 per cent more! Work that out and the mind boggles. That and several more discriminatory rulings have transmogrified our national policy towards EU citizens to that of a gang of little boys screaming “baksheesh, baksheesh!” It is in my opinion utterly ridiculous. Do we want these people to live among us? If they do happen to have sizeable incomes do we wish to curtail their lifestyles by overcharging on things like energy bills and other basic services? Is it not of greater benefit to the country if these people boosted the general economy by having greater spending power? The answer is obvious.

This attitude applies to us too. How can our lifestyles improve if we are forever scrimping and saving to pay ever mounting taxes and tariffs? The less money circulates the more stagnant the economy becomes. That is Bonello Du Puis logic.

Without that ‘feel good’ atmosphere generated by the late lamented George in his now legendary budget speeches, people will think twice if not three times to go to a restaurant, take a holiday, or buy an antique; things that are considered over and above the basic necessities for survival. You would be surprised how many there are. In this day and age, when because of the recession and EU countries going belly-up one is always conscious that, maybe, it will one day happen to us, it is important for the Government to ensure this is not the case and that our economy is radically different from those of Spain and Cyprus. It makes sense to be assured that if we continue on this tack we should be able to successfully weather the battering that Europe is undergoing at present. This is why I find government policy in relation to expats so contradictory and counterproductive. Even if they are infinitely richer than we are there is no reason to fleece them like this.

It would be far better were they to use their cash flows to regenerate an economy which over the last year, because of political uncertainty, has become very stagnant. Everywhere I go I am told that things are not going well and over the last three pre-electoral months have jammed up completely.

Sales have plummeted in many retail outlets. This is something which I am sure preoccupies the new government and that the problem is definitely top priority.

Although you may think I may sound like the late lamented Pike, while it is essential that the state finances should be healthy, would it not be better were the income generated by payment of taxes and services replaced with income from VAT? The more people spend the more VAT they will pay. Ergo there will be no need to boost government income by overcharging on energy bills and high tax.

The economy would be healthier and government spending would ensure that our environment is in top form without perhaps the people depending too much on the building industry which is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs!