The government is raising the cost of 400 services offered by the civil service, the shadow minister for the economy, Claudio Grech said  today.

He said that without announcing anything in the budget, the government had now included the 400 tariff increases in a law to implement budget measures. The increases were an average of 10 per cent across the board.

"This is an increase in taxes across the board which will effect all sectors of the economy. Its intention is not to offer a better service but to take in revenue" Mr Grech said.

Among the increases are practically all court tariffs.

He said the PN is opposing these increases. It is suggesting that  a working group with the private sector and constituted bodies should be established to see the impact assessment of the new taxes on the economy.

More electronic services should be introduced without any cost to users, while government departments should establish benchmarks to better their services with lower costs.

PN spokesman for public administration Censu Galea said that the government should explain how much revenue is it expecting to make from these new taxes.

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