It is unbelievable that when EU statistics do not sound sweet to the ears of the spokesman on energy, transport and infrastructure of Alternattiva Demokratika Ralph Cassar, he tries to bring up all kinds of excuses to try and contradict the obvious (‘Misleading interpretation of EU tax statistics’, The Sunday Times of Malta, January 17).

The table published online by the European Commission shows that Malta has the highest vehicle taxation rate as a percentage of total taxation in the EU.

Malta does not have the highest rate of car ownership, as Cassar tried to imply.

Luxembourg has the highest number of cars per inhabitant, followed by a large distance by Italy, Lithuania and then Malta.

In Luxembourg, vehicle taxation as a percentage of total taxation is 0.38 per cent. At 3.49 per cent, vehicle taxation in Malta is nine times as much. In Lithuania, vehicle taxation as a percentage of total taxation is 0.16 per cent, which means that in Malta vehicle taxation is almost 22 times as much. In the eurozone, the percentage is 1.15 per cent, that is, a third of the amount of vehicle taxation in Malta.

Malta does not have the highest ‘motorisation rate’ in the world. There are several towns and cities in the world where the motorisation rate is much higher than in Malta. Evidently, Cassar knows nothing about the US, otherwise he would not have written what he did.

Last October, I paid 13 times as much in annual circulation tax in Malta as I paid in the US for the same car, where the tax is paid every two years and remains constant for the life of the car.

The Malta Automobile Club will wait to see whether AD will support the petition submitted to the European Parliament concerning the absence of real competition in the importation, storage and wholesale of petroleum products in Malta, if and when the petition is accepted by the European Parliament and is posted on its portal.

What has AD done during the past 26 years about the absence of real competition in the fuel market in Malta?