The 2012 budget must reduce public deficit, seek measures to increase productivity, tap unutilised resources and incentivise capital investment to achieve economic growth, the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU said.
Among the proposals in its pre-budget document, the GRTU proposes the creation of back-office work within localities, increasing female participation in the Labour market.
Director-general Vince Farrugia told a news conference that the available empty buildings could be incentivised to be used for other purposes, such as specialised homes for the elderly.
The government should also think of coming up with a property tax holiday for home owners and young families who would be able to move into a vacant property or for those who would want to buy such a property as their first home.
There should be tax incentives and grants for vacant property to be turned into office space or tourism accommodation.
The GRTU continued to believe that Malta's tourism carrying capacity should at least reach a target of 2 million by 2015 and the utilisation of empty available resources in localities could make this possible without undue pressure on the environment.
It proposed the reduction of the host family licence per bed to bring it down to the amount of licence per bed paid by hotels. Mr Farrugia said the hotel industry and host family sector were in competition and it was only fair that they competed under the same rules.
Regarding Valletta, which was seeing regeneration, paving and construction work, the GRTU proposed temporary measures to alleviate the current problems faced by retailers.
These included a revision of the CVA legislation so that this was only charged between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., the relief of parking spaces by eliminating those reserved for MPs and changing green resident only spaces into blue ones, making them reserved for residents after 7 p.m. The current blue spaces should become white, it said.
Moreover, Mr Farrugia asked for a special retroactive tax reduction for Valletta-based commercial establishments.
SMEs, he said, should be helped with recruiting people through the abolishment of schemes operated by the ETC which were increasingly bureaucratic in their implementation and reimbursement procedure.
Measures for the increase of female participation in the labour market, should include the extension of the present tax benefit scheme for those using childcare facilities to also cover child minding in a home setting.
For this reason the GRTU proposed the setting up of a register of professional child minders offering home services.
These people would be in a position to issue receipts which families could then use to claim tax benefits.
In line with the GRTU's position on packaging waste, Mr Farrugia called for the implementation of the EU's Waste, Electrical and Electronic equipment directive.
Although the implementation of directive would mean a drop of €8 million in government revenue, it was years overdue because of the current eco-contribution being paid by producers.
Mr Farrugia said the government should set up a fund to provide SMEs with loans of up to €50,000 for the purchasing of capital equipment such as Euro IV and V vehicles for distribution and the purchasing of photovoltaic, solar panels, insulation materials and lighting fixtures which operate with sensing equipments.
Regarding the utility services, GRTU said the government had to ensure that SMEs did not close down or reduce employment due to their inability to pay utility bills.
Enemalta, the chamber said, should provide a price tariff for one or two calendar years so that SMEs would be in a position to plan. It also called for a 50 per cent reduction on the rent of three or single phase meters.
While welcoming the merging of the VAT, Customs and Inland Revenue departments, GRTU said an enforcement authority should be created to ensure that everyone paid his dues and a fair level playing field ensued. This was because black market economies had reached unprecedented proportions and there were people evading any form of fiscal liability.