The Labour Party won the political and moral battle against the VAT charged on car registration tax and was prepared to take the matter to the European courts, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday.
About 14,000 people queued up at the Labour Party (PL) headquarters in Ħamrun on Saturday to sign up for a court case demanding that the government refunds VAT paid on their car registration tax.
If the judgment goes against the government, anybody who bought a car since 2004, including those who would not be party to the court case, will be eligible for a refund. This would set the government back about €50 million.
Addressing a political meeting in Marsascala, Dr Muscat said the people wanted what was theirs by right. When the PL was elected to government, it would give the money back, he pledged.
He referred to head of representation of the European Commission in Malta, Joanna Drake who, he said, wrote in her blog that the government should give the money back.
Dr Drake specified yesterday she had not said that in her blog. She explained that the European Commission had opened infringement proceedings against Malta over the car registration tax issue and in a reasoned opinion, in April 2008, said, amongst others, that Malta's registration tax discriminated against second-hand cars being imported into Malta from other EU member states.
Such infringement proceedings had not been withdrawn yet and the new registration tax, which came into effect in January this year, had not yet been given the green light by the European Commission.
Dr Drake said a refund was not an automatic right but the courts in Malta had to decide to that effect before any claim for a refund could be made. Remedies were not harmonised at a European level and had to be decided by the domestic court of individual member states.
Replying to Dr Muscat's speech, the Nationalist Party said that even though he wanted the people to take the government to court, a note in small print on the form handed out to those who signed up on Saturday said that no legal action could be taken against the PL.
Referring to the recently-announced possibility of handing over road maintenance to a private contractor, Dr Muscat said the issue raised many questions such as how EU funds would be used. Would the new system lead to new tariffs for drivers, he asked.
He queried whether two people close to the PN had already ordered parking meters before a public call for tender was issued. These people must have ordered the equipment because they knew they would win the tender, Dr Muscat said.
The Transport Ministry replied saying it had already declared that there would be no additional payments by the public. Neither the ministry nor the transport authority would issue any tenders for meters, it added. If Dr Muscat knew of anyone who had ordered parking meters then he should tell them it was a waste of money, the ministry said.
Dr Muscat also criticised the government over the latest economic figures indicating that Malta entered a recession. The recession was not overcome by quoting how many new jobs were generated, he said.
The government never said how many jobs were lost or specified how many of the new jobs were full or part time, Dr Muscat added.
He announced that as part of March 31 Freedom Day celebrations, the PL would hold a demonstration in Vittoriosa to protest against the utility tariffs.
Speaking about illegal migration, Dr Muscat said the PL would launch an action plan containing concrete, realistic solutions that could be implemented. The action plan was drawn up after a consultation process with all the stakeholders and would attempt to strike a balance between the human dimension and the national interest, Dr Muscat said.