Alternattiva Demokratika yesterday again challenged the government to contradict its estimates that put the PN's promised income tax cut at €125 million and not €46 million as stated by the Prime Minister.

"Today we published the workings (for the PN's measure) on our website," the party's economy and finance spokesman Edward Fenech said at an activity in Sliema. "And we're challenging the Prime Minister again to contradict our estimate of €125 million, which is a sum of money that we believe the country simply cannot afford." (The workings are at www.alternattiva.org.mt.)

The measure was announced by the Lawrence Gonzi last Tuesday in what he described an entrée to the PN's electoral manifesto. A new Nationalist government, he said, would further widen the tax bands, raising the minimum taxable income and reducing the maximum tax rate from 35 per cent to 25 per cent except for those with a declared income in excess of €60,000 (Lm26,000 approx).

The Times had sought the workings for this proposal from the Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, Tonio Fenech, but was told that the party would not divulge the information, fearing that Labour would copy the idea. On the same day that Mr Fenech's comments appeared, however, Dr Gonzi said the government had estimated that the cuts would cost around €46 million. He has not yet said how this figure was arrived at however.

Yesterday, AD insisted that this figure did not tally with its own estimate, which it had spoken about in a press conference last week, and challenged the Prime Minister to contradict it.

AD is proposing a reduction in the rate of income tax from 35 to 30 per cent across the board but also that the cut should be compensated for with a gradual rise to 40 per cent in the tax taken from banks.

The activity yesterday was meant to deal with the party's family-oriented proposals but party leader Harry Vassallo tied the measures in with the debate about the tax cuts.

He insisted that AD would not be making the outlandish sort of promises being made by the major parties (Labour has been promising to halve the surcharge, among other things) but is focusing on simple doable solutions.

In this connection, he reiterated the party's proposal to increase maternity leave from 14 to 26 weeks. "The major parties talk a lot about the family but don't commit themselves to concrete proposals," Dr Vassallo said, pointing out that with a flat payment of €166 per week, as AD was proposing, the measure would not be too much of a burden on the government's finances.

"We don't mind if the major parties copy our proposals," he quipped sarcastically. "They have often done so even though usually it takes them 10 years."

Rather than come up with monumental projects, he said, AD would rather prioritise on basic measures which should have been introduced long ago, insisting that a list of European countries had left Malta lagging behind when it came to family-centred measures.