Yesterday’s Budget was “the last act of an arrogant Prime Minister and Government”, Opposition leader Joseph Muscat said as he insisted a Labour Government would do “better and more”.
He criticised the Government for having presented a Budget it had no guarantee it could actually implement, saying “only we can do that”.
Income tax rates might have been lowered for some, but keeping tax bands unaltered meant many people would actually end up being worse off, he told a news conference.
“The Government thought about one group of people but forgot about everyone else. A closer look at the proposals mean a single person on the minimum wage will end up paying income tax,” Dr Muscat said. “The Government has forgotten its social soul.”
He intimated that the gradual income tax reductions announced by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech would be kept if the PL were elected, as would various social measures announced yesterday, such as the increase in children’s allowance.
“We won’t be taking anything away from those who gained something today. But we’ll also be thinking of those this Budget forgot,” he said.
The Opposition leader was more cagey when asked whether excise duty increases, most notably that on fuel, would be repealed by an eventual PL Government. Describing the increases as “negative”, Dr Muscat said the PL would be taking a closer look at the Government’s rationale before it took a definite stance on the issue. “The two (fuel rise and income tax cuts) aren’t directly related, so we’ll see what can be done,” he said.
Dr Muscat challenged the Government to introduce cost of living increases on January 1 regardless of whether or not the Budget made it through Parliament – and followed through with a pledge of his own. “We want to ease the minds of workers, pensioners and students. A new Government will implement any wage, pensions or benefits increases announced and backdate them to January 1, 2013,” he said.
The promise to reduce energy tariffs without raising Enemalta subsidies remained unaltered, he said. “The Government will just have to come to terms with the fact we will lower tariffs.”
Although the Government was good at making promises, it had struggled to deliver, he said, citing ballooning national debt as a case in point.
“More than a third of all the national debt accrued since Independence was built up by this Prime Minister. They promise, but we deliver.”