Maltese Federation Of Industry Drafts Tax Proposals

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Cyprus

16 November 2001

Malta's Federation of Industry (FOI) president, Joe Zammit Tabona, has announced that the Federation has drawn-up a raft of proposals to present to the government such as a reduction in the number of public holidays, as they are viewed as a burden on industry, a ban on employees taking extra days off when a public holiday falls on a weekend, and suggestions on how to curb expenditure.

As far as the issue of taxation is concerned, the FOI is urging the government to implement a shift from direct to indirect taxation. In an interview with the Malta Business Weekly, Mr Tabona said this would encourage businesses and individuals to take more investment risks.

The FOI also called for direct taxation to become more moderate, and urged the government to reduce income tax and raise efficiency in the collection of VAT. In addition, the Federation suggested an increase in the non-taxable amounts of Lm3,000 for a single person and Lm4,000 for a married couple which would match the rate of inflation as they were established nearly six years ago.

Finally, the Federation requested that the maximum income tax level be increased from Lm7,500 to Lm10,000 and the maximum tax rate should be lowered from 35 per cent to 32.5 per cent. 'We have now reached a situation where the International Monetary Fund endorsed the view that the tax burden had likely approached, if not exceeded, efficient levels,' said Mr Tabona.

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