As foreigners who do not have an income in Malta to be taxed but who own an apartment and benefit from local services such as garbage collection, use of the library, lights in the streets, etc. as well as national services like road maintenance and police protection, I do believe we should pay taxes on our property ownership here, not in Italy where we do.

I do not expect the Maltese to be eager to pay taxes on real estate but I’m sure many would understand that such a legislative measure would increase the government’s income and that, in turn, would reduce inequality through redistribution from those who have more to those who have less.

Apart from this moral and social effect, taxes on property would protect land. This tax should be determined not only according to the value of the property but diminished or increased according to whether the property is in long-term use or left vacant, well taken care of or left to decay.

Taxation on property, I’m sure, would induce a lot of owners to put it to profit and not let it lie vacant or unfinished for speculation purposes. This habit that has no cost and creates that sad, Maltese eyesore: plots turned into dumping places and countless unfinished, vacant buildings crumbling due to lack of maintenance, ugly shells that occupy precious land.

For development purposes, scarce land is constantly grabbed from the countryside and the natural beauty of the islands is fearfully shrinking at a pace that makes me worry. It should also make the Maltese worry and the government take action.