Prof. Edward Scicluna was the Guest Speaker invited to make the Concluding Speech for a conference organised by the Malta Institute of Management (MIM) on Thursday, October 20, 2011. Theme of the conference was “VAT and the EU Conference”.
Office of Prof. Edward Scicluna issued the following Press Release.
Scicluna – Fiscal debate needs to make ‘quantum leap’
Labour MEP Prof Edward Scicluna yesterday (Thursday 20/10/2011) called on the government to improve the public debate on tax leading to reforms to Malta’s tax system.
Prof Scicluna told delegates at the ‘VAT and the EU’ conference organised by the Malta Institute of Management that Malta’s debate on its tax system needed to “make a quantum leap forward from the very basic level it is in”.
Drawing attention to the removal of subsidies on the public utilities, Prof Scicluna argued that taxpayers should have been refunded so that people could afford to pay the unsubsidized market price. He added that this amounted to an “unacceptable stealth tax”.
He added that Malta needed to find a new way toward a progressive and proportionate tax system saying that:
“Many new taxes and tax cuts have shifted an unacceptable extra burden on low income households. Taxation has so many economic effects which one can ignore at one’s peril. Like a double edged sword it has to be handled with great care, and not used like a butcher’s knife.”
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Mehtiega qabza fil-kwalita fid-dibattitu fiskali
– Prof. Edward Scicluna
L-Ewroparlamentari Laburista l-Professur Edward Scicluna appella lill-Gvern biex itejjeb id-diskussjoni dwar it-tassazzjoni biex twassal lejn riformi mehtiega fis-sistema ta’ tassazzjoni f’Malta.Prof. Scicluna ghamel dan l-appell ilbierah (il-Hamis, 20/10/11) fid-diskors tal-gheluq ta’ konferenza ta’ gurnata bit-tema “VAT and the EU Conference” organizzata mill-Malta Institute of Management.
Prof. Scicluna qal li d-dibattitu dwar is-sistema ta’ tassazzjoni f’Malta jehtieg “li jaghmel qabza kbira ‘l quddiem mil-livell baziku li jinsab fih.”
Filwaqt li rrefera ghat-tnehhija tas-sussidji minn fuq l-utilitajiet pubblici, Prof. Scicluna qal li l-poplu kien imissu nghata lura l-fondi biex jaghmlu tajjeb ghall-prezzijiet tas-suq, li issa mhumiex sussidjati. Fin-nuqqas ta’ dan, ir-rizultat huwa li din hija taxxa mohbija.
“Malta tehtieg issib it-triq ‘il quddiem lejn sistema ta’ tassazzjoni progressiva u proporzjonata. Hafna taxxi godda u tnaqqis ta’ ohrajn komplew jghabbu b’piz inaccettabbli lil dawk bi dhul baxx. It-tassazzjoni ghandha hafna effetti ekonomici li wiehed jista’ jinjora b’periklu ghalih innifsu. Hija bhal xabla li taqta’ minn zewgt ixfar u allura ghandha tintuza b’attenzjoni kbira u mhux tintuza bhal xi sikkina ta’ biccier,” qal Prof. Scicluna.