Malta Labour Party Leader Pledges VAT Decision

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Cyprus

03 December 2001

The leader of the Malta Labour Party (MLP), Alfred Sant, has confirmed that his party will have made a decision on its stance on Value Added Tax before the next election gets underway.

Dr Sant said that, if elected, a Labour government would ensure that other taxes would not be raised and the party's VAT plans would be approved by parliament within a month of its opening.

In the Malta Times, Dr Sant also defended the MLP's claim that the government was stretching the truth with its statistics, recalling the party's accusation a year ago that the unemployment rate was actually higher than the rate published by the government. According to Dr Sant, the Labour Force Survey had shown six months later that the rate stood at six per cent and not four per cent as declared by the Employment and Training Corporation.

He added that Finance Minister John Dalli had claimed that by September 2000 a total of 3,334 jobs had been created, but it was later realised that only 1,400 new jobs were established.

Dr Sant also attacked the Government's handling of the budget. Referring to the increasing gap between ordinary revenue and total expenditure, the MLP argued that the government had failed to deal sensibly with public expenditure despite the obvious increase in the burden on taxpayers.

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