Maltese Labour Leader, Alfred Sant, was the subject of a scathing attack by Finance Minister John Dalli who on Saturday condemned his policies on tax as "pie in the sky" according to Malta's Sunday Times.
Dalli's critique was in response to a television broadcast in which Sant declared he would give tax reductions for the first two months of office should Labour win the impending election, in addition to giving those who do not pay any tax, such as pensioners, students and the unemployed a 'bonus'.
This has led the government to accuse Sant of short-termism, arguing that he is effectively trying to buy Maltese votes to obtain power. "Alfred Sant wants to buy you for the first two months and would then dump you. What he is doing now is a poor imitation of what the PN government has done in the last two months when we started reducing tax in a structured and permanent way, after ensuring that the deficit problem was being addressed," Dalli warned.
Dalli claims that reforms introduced by his government in the last budget had already resulted in tax reductions the equivalent of four months' tax for those earning between Lm5,000 and Lm6,000, and three months tax for those earning between Lm7,000 and Lm10,000. This was a far more effective measure than Sant's proposal, he argued.
The Finance Minister said that Labour's policies would have a knock-on effect throughout the economy, resulting in wage freezes, decreasing pensions, loss of subsidies, reduction in overtime and a generally stagnant economy. Ultimately, this would be more costly to the Maltese voter than the reductions in tax that Sant was promising, he asserted.
Scorn was also poured on Sant's planned tax credit for the self-employed, the exact value of which remains undefined, because he dare not reveal something he "cannot be concrete" about, according to Dalli.
"Expect more of these statements from Alfred Sant. He will blow more soap balloons. Whether there is a shred of truth in them is another matter," the Finance Minister concluded.
.
Network Tweets
Network BlogsContent
provided by
|
Archive | Resources | Partners | Site Map | Links | Newsletter Archive | Contact | RSS Feeds | About | Syndication | Advertising & Marketing | Recruitment | Terms & Conditions | Privacy & Cookies
Copyright © 2012 - All Rights Reserved - Tax-News.com
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Tax-News.com has taken reasonable care in sourcing and presenting the information contained on this site, but accepts no responsibility for any financial or other loss or damage that may result from its use. In particular, users of the site are advised to take appropriate professional advice before committing themselves to involvement in offshore jurisdictions, offshore trusts or offshore investments.
Write a comment