In our article on the proposed tax reform by the government, we incorrectly stated that there was no opposition to the bill. The bill is being opposed by the Nationalist Party over an article that depenalises tax avoidance in exchange for new powers by the Tax Commissioner to issue new fines and collect tax debt. The controversial article in question is article 7. Graham Bencini, Nationalist Party Shadow minister of Finances also communicated PN’s position in Parliament and in public.
Graham Bencini is accusing the government of introducing this article to protect tax delinquents including the client of Prime Minister Robert Abela, Christian Borg. Christian Borg is currently charged in Court with tax evasion and money-laundering.
I need to further understand the bill and the material implication of the reform. We may also get a tax expert to comment about it. There’s surely a difference between tax avoidance by a criminal laundering criminal proceedings and businesses failing to pay taxes to revenue issues. There’s also an issue of fraud with tax delinquents hiding their earnings in contrast to businesses which declare their income and fall back on payments. Currently, the law does not discriminate against those who fall back on tax payments and those who fraudulently conceal their earnings when it comes to tax collection.
We will be uploading more articles on this issue.
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