Maltese FOI Warns Government Not To Increase Taxes

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Cyprus

02 November 2001

The Maltese Federation of Industry has urged the government not increase taxes, but to find another way of shrinking the country's deficit.

Speaking at a presentation on the state of the economy, FOI President, Joe Zammit Tabona warned that the wrong decision, or inaction on the part of the Maltese government could neutralise the efforts of entrepreneurs established on the island, and risked driving away foreign and domestic investment.

Mr Zammit Tabona lamented the slow growth of the jurisdiction's economy, saying: 'At the present rates of growth we shall never achieve this [spectacular growth] unless the economies of EU member states start deteriorating,'. He added that EU membership, although welcome, will not in and of itself attract new investment to the country, nor will it make an enterprise established there competitive.

He argued that the government needs to re-examine the operating conditions in Malta, including cost, regulation, availabilty of labour, efficiency of infrastructure, and taxation levels if it wants to remain internationally competitive. Speaking at the Malta Labour Party General Conference last month, party spokesman for financial and economic affairs, Leo Brincat, made a similar plea, saying that he believed that the country's financial position 'needed improvement'.

Recommended