Alternattiva Demokratika yesterday described the Labour Party's proposal to halve the surcharge on water and electricity as an environmental "sacrilege" and proposed introducing different surcharge rates to be applied according to usage on a per capita household basis.
"This way families that were energy efficient would incur a lower rate of surcharge than the current 50 per cent while families that were not energy efficient would pay a higher rate," AD's spokesman on finance and the economy, Edward Fenech said.
Speaking during a press conference, the green party's chairman Harry Vassallo said that, while the Labour proposal to halve the surcharge was a "political gimmick", AD did not agree with the idea of a uniform surcharge as proposed by Investment Minister Austin Gatt. In their proposals for a coalition, AD had presented the proposal to have different surcharge rates.
The spokesman on energy, innovation and industry, Ralph Cassar said that if Malta wanted to reach the EU target and produce 10 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020 there was need for a serious plan and deadlines.
AD was proposing a four to five turbine wind farm that will provide electricity at the cost of €0.05 (Lm0.02) per unit; a national programme of initiatives to replace all filament lamps with energy saving ones; investing in solar water heaters for 50,000 households over a five-year period; and investing to install 5,000 photovoltaic systems.
AD members also spoke about the Nationalist Party's proposal to reduce the maximum income tax paid by those earning under €60,000 (Lm25,758) from 35 to 25 per cent.
This proposal, announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, would cost the government €125 million (Lm53 million) and not €46.58 million (Lm20 million) as calculated by the PN, they said.
Mr Fenech stressed that while AD agreed with the concept of reducing taxes one had to make sure this was done responsibly and was sustainable.
AD expected the Prime Minister to give more information as to the way this tax cut would affect the country's economy. Mr Fenech said AD was particularly concerned about the way the proposed cut would encourage small industries to distribute their profits, meaning that the government would be collecting less money in corporate taxes.
"It seems that someone is misinforming our Prime Minister on the full cost of the tax cut proposal. We appeal for caution and responsibility," he said.
He added that, although it was reasonable to assume that part of the tax cut will return to the government through increased economic activity, the extent of the tax cut as proposed would require an economic growth rate of 7.5 per cent at least. This was not achievable in the two-year term mentioned, he said.