Nationalist MP Robert Arrigo has suggested the introduction of a mediation mechanism to consider genuine cases where people default on VAT payments.

Writing in The Times today, Mr Arrigo said that those who paid VAT on time should be respected. Some sort of fine for delays and non-payment was the only deterrent to non-payers.

However, it was well known that some people were unable to pay VAT in a timely manner for various reasons such as the recession, ill-health, because some suppliers had not paid them, or went bankrupt on them. The law that put  everybody in the same basket did not take these instances into account and could not cater for so many exceptions.

Officials of the tax departments had to abide by the laws of the land.

"It is wrong to put defaulters in prison because by so doing one would be destroying everything that life has given such persons," Mr Arrigo said.

"It is a delicate situation. Therefore, may I suggest that the government appoints retired, respected senior civil servants, persons of integrity, who are non-political, perhaps retired judges who still have so much to give, to judge each case on its own merits, impartially, before the case goes further.

"This would take the form of a mediation process, something that has been installed in other spheres.

"Only after such a process has failed due to stonewalling would the process recommence and the law be enforced. This system must be speedy and transparent, within which the timelines of fines are suspended," Mr Arrigo said.

Mr Arrigo currently serves as parliamentary assistant at the Ministry of Finance.