The Opposition has called on the government to clarify its position on tax harmonisation in the EU.
Malta has traditionally opposed harmonisation, but Frans Camilleri, a governor on the board of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), told The Malta Independent recently that “Malta is not against tax harmonisation, in fact we’re in favour of it”.
"This declaration by Mr Camilleri runs counter to the position adopted by Malta over the past years to date. Malta has championed better sharing of information and coordination in tax issues but stood against all efforts to harmonise tax systems across the European Union. Malta adopted this approach throughout the past decades irrespective of which party was in government," the shadow minister of finance, Mario de Marco said.
"The opposition is calling on the government to clarify its position not least by stating that it will oppose any move to harmonise tax systems across the European Union," he added.
GOVERNMENT: NO POLICY CHANGE
In a reaction, the government said its position has not changed.
It said that Malta does not agree with the one size fits all concept proposed for the harmonisation of tax as this could endanger the competitiveness of the financial sector.
It also pointed out that the MFSA is autonomous of the government.
FRANS CAMILLERI EXPLAINS
Mr Camilleri in an explanation, said his comments did not run counter to the position adopted by Malta on tax harmonisation.
"My comments were in the context of a discussion on money laundering, tax avoidance, and Malta's imputation tax system. Unfortunately, taken out of context, this was interpreted as a change in Malta's position on tax harmonisation."
His said that his position was that Malta had cooperated in various tax avoidance efforts through adoption of EU Directives as well as of various tax avoidance measures recommended by the OECD, even though Malta was not a member of this organisation. This was what was meant by the reference to tax harmonisation.
He said he fully shared the government's (and national) position on resisting any further harmonisation that impinges on the sovereign area of taxation.