Political parties are playing with fire when they use Malta’s tax and fiscal structures to score cheap electoral points, the Chamber of Commerce has warned.

In a statement, the Chamber expressed dismay that candidates in upcoming MEP elections had “given in to the temptation” of turning debate about fiscal affairs into a political football.

“The threat of Malta’s current fiscal structures being put at risk, ought to be debated in a way that explains to the electorate how crucial it is that Malta maintains its current prerogative to design and determine its own taxation system and use it to attract investment in the light of its inherent limitations,” the Chamber said.

MEP candidates have repeatedly clashed over their approach to tax harmonisation at the EU level, with the Labour Party in particular accusing Nationalist Party candidates of having voted against Malta’s tax interests during their time in the European Parliament. 

Malta's advantageous corporate tax system is a key component in the country's attractiveness to foreign firms. 

On Tuesday, the Chamber of Commerce urged politicians to speak with one voice on the matter.

“Malta’s needs are different to those countries and regions in the centre of Europe. Rather than for the principal aim of collecting revenue, Malta uses its fiscal structure as a necessary and legitimate tool to stimulate growth and overcome the island’s permanent natural disadvantages such as smallness and peripherality,” it said.

“The Chamber calls on all MEP candidates as well as the electorate to treat this subject with the deserved caution”.