Prime Minister Robert Abela’s main talking points are mainly two: that the government is subsidising the economy (apparently, something to be proud of), and secondly that the government hasn’t introduced any new taxes. Robert Abela’s economic policies are his own only, based on his feudal fantasies, and fly against all expert recommendations and the position of the Minister for Finance, Clyde Caruana.
Apparently, the Minister for Finance, Clyde Caruana, who rightly so thinks that the government’s finances are unsustainable, is trying to squeeze out any extra cash possible from the system in trying to fill the huge gaping spending hole. In fact, it is not true at all that the government has a “no new taxes policy”.
At the end of the year, Clyde Caruana sneaked in a reform of the Income Tax Act which removed a tax benefit from bank employees. The legal notice 298 of 2023 switched the taxable rate of home loans for bank employees to the standard bank interest rate, as opposed to the bank’s refinancing rates (which are much lower). This was a tax benefit exclusively for bank employees and its removal would cost them between 50 and 150 per year, however, I am told that for some with higher mortgages, it may even cost them up to 1,000 per year.
By itself, this is a very small measure for the tax collector, but it indicates that the Minister for Finances is using his executive power to tweak and manage public finances away from Robert Abela’s infinite spendthrift policies.
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