A new Nationalist government would exempt all pensions from income tax, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this morning.

Presenting eight of his party's proposals on pensions, Dr Busuttil said the elderly would have paid for their pension throughout their life so they should be exempt from paying income tax.

A Nationalist government would also address the national minimum pension, which means that the lowest pension to be received by anyone who had paid pension contributions would go up from €147 to €169 a week. This will benefit 18,000 pensioners who would be getting €8.5 million.

Another proposal was to give those who would not have paid all their contributions the opportunity to pay the difference and qualify for a full pension.

Dr Busuttil said that the non-contributory pension received by people who would not have paid contributions would be increased and bound to 60 per cent of the average national wage. This would go up to €155.70 a week and would leave another €4.5 million in elderly peoples' pockets.

The Nationalist Party leader also referred to the €300 allowance given to the elderly when they reached 75 years of age, a measure introduced by a previous Nationalist government to encourage them to continue living in their own home. This, he said, would be increased to €500 and would be given to both parties in the case of couples. It would benefit 27,800 elderly and would cost €5.5 million.

Widows would have the right to receive their husband's full pension. They currently received five-sixths.

A Nationalist government would also see that the service pension received by the police and soldiers was gradually increased in line with the cost of living so as to remain relevant.

It would also address the service pension injustices which dated back to the 1970s. Although this was being addressed, it was still far from being solved.

Solving the service pension issue will cost €22 million - which is why it will be sorted out gradually

A new PN government would tackle this according to a pensioner's age with all those reaching 80 getting the retirement pension in full as well as their service pension.

The remainder would get a percentage which would be increased gradually with age until they received 100 per cent by age 80.

This measure had a major financial impact to the tune of €22 million and that was why the Nationalist Party was proposing its gradual introduction, he said.

Positions of trust

Replying to questions, Dr Busuttil said this would be reduced to the bare minimum and it would be possible for meritocracy standards to be checked.

Online platform

He referred to a new online platform launched by the PN that allowed people to react to the party’s proposals and propose new ideas for discussion. This, he said, was based on a successful Icelandic model, launched following the Panama Papers scandal, which was so successful that it was retained as a tool of government.

IIP

On the Individual Investor Programme, he said the Nationalist Party was not against investment but was against the sale of passports. Following the Opposition’s insistence, people who were given a Maltese passport had to live in Malta for a year but this, Dr Busuttil said, was not enough - so a new Nationalist government would change this condition.

A new Nationalist government would also clean up the programme which had been 'dirtied' by the Prime Minister’s chief of staff who was getting commissions from the sale of passports.

Second-pillar pensions

Dr Busuttil said when asked that the Nationalist Party was in favour of second pillar pensions which this government, however, objected to. Because of this, and the fact that sustainability was currently not the issue, the Opposition stopped insisting upon this, preferring to talk instead about issues on which there was agreement.

Labour reaction

In a reaction, the Labour Party said the PN promise to raise the national minimum pension to the level of the minimum wage was a mistaken decision taken in haste.
Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis, speaking at a Labour Party press conference, said such a measure would cost €20.5m and not €8.5m as Dr Busuttil had said. The bill would be higher if relativity was maintained.