The budget was a well-decorated cake but when you eventually take a bite it leaves you with a bad taste, according to Azzjoni Nazzjonali leader Josie Muscat.
"It is only when we start eating it that we will realise its true flavour," he said when contacted, adding that the effect will be felt in a few months' time. He criticised the budget for not allowing hard-working people to enjoy the fruit of their work because they had to cough up more in taxes.
"We do not agree that the government should control our lives and take away a portion of what we earn, giving it to others who do not use it productively," he said, stopping short of saying what measures he was referring to. Dr Muscat stressed that the government should not just give handouts to those who live from day to day but rather help them get on their feet. "You do not give a person a fish but rather give him a fishing rod and teach him how to fish," he said, referring to an old Chinese proverb.
He said that while the government spoke of the importance of competition, nothing was being done to tackle bureaucracy, which was having a negative effect on business. "How can we compete with the rest of the world when we are plagued by red tape?"
In the budget the government announced it planned to eliminate bureaucracy and cut this by 15 per cent over the next year.
Dr Muscat termed as laughable the measure pushing those who have been unsuccessfully registering for a job for five years and receiving benefits to do community work. "Why wait five years?"
AN said the government was using climate change as an excuse to introduce new taxes, "fleecing an overburdened public out of its hard-earned money".
It said Finance Minister Tonio Fenech seemed oblivious of the fact that the science surrounding climate change was far from settled.
The party said the government's assertion that alternative energy was more efficient was wrong, saying this was only useful in alleviating peak demand and at worst next to useless.
AN said the income tax incentives were "unashamedly token" and would not serve to encourage people to work harder or be more entrepreneurial, while the excise duty on fuel would cancel out the projected savings.
"The only welcome news is the reduction of tax on motorcycles, the need to have building energy-efficiency certification before permits are granted and the prospect of a liberalised mass transportation market. All three proposals are straight out of AN's electoral manifesto," it said.