Charles Daly, who correctly wrote (The Sunday Times of Malta, November 8) about the absolute necessity of taxing long vacant buildings in Malta, is unlikely to face the same sort of reaction I did when I ventured the same concept at one of Finance Minister Edward Scicluna’s pre-Budget public hearings.

Daly is absolutely right and I am really happy to see that, both in Malta and among several economic colleagues in Brussels, my long-argued position about the now soon to become unavoidable taxation of property in Malta is gaining support.

This is happening even if the local political class – as a collective group, traditional fence-sitters as they always are in Malta when vested interest issues like this come up – look as though they do not wish to touch the subject with a bargepole.

But the facts will remain what they are. I am researching two long articles about the subject for local publication and they will show that property taxes are the fairest form of taxation that can exist.

Given the ever decreasing fiscal elbowroom that all finance ministers in Malta have, such taxes may soon prove to become inevitable to introduce.

Where large income and wealth inequalities exist, they are a great fiscal and social tool to have.

They can be structured in various ways. In Malta they could be introduced restrictedly on long vacant and unutilised properties, duly excepting own residences.

Their introduction would help to solve the problem of essential non-clearing market characteristics of the local property market.

Currently-much-wasted economic investment in this sector can be reduced and the historical concept of an economically productive investor/possidente in Malta can yet be changed from that which it is.

It’s a tall order I know, but happy productive retirement gives one all the time and will with which to engage in such pleasures.