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Kurt Sansone
There is little doubt that the inclusion of a wider range of products under the eco-tax regime will have an impact on the cost of living, but the extent to which this may inch up remains unclear.
Unlike what happened when the VAT rate was increased from 15 per cent to 18 per cent and Government had calculated the impact such a measure would have on inflation, the introduction of eco-taxes has not been accompanied by similar calculations.
The budget speech delivered by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi in November last year contained no indication of what impact the eco-taxes were expected to have on inflation. Eco-taxes are levied on a range of products from fridges to shampoos, car tyres to beverages.
This newspaper asked a series of questions about the expected impact of eco-taxes on the rate of inflation but two weeks later, Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech has not yet come back with answers.
MaltaToday asked Fenech to quantify the impact on inflation of eco-taxes in the fourth quarter of 2004. This newspaper also asked the Parliamentary Secretary for the impact of the newly introduced range of eco-taxes on inflation in 2005 and the impact on inflation of the whole range of eco-taxes introduced last year and this.
The questions were emailed on 11 January with a follow-up reminder on 18 January. Up until going to print no official reply was forthcoming.
Meanwhile, this week, Labour MPs Charles Mangion and Marie-Louise Coleiro presented a private members’ motion asking Parliament to abrogate the legal notice published on 31 December that sets out the new rates of the eco-contribution.
kurt@newsworksltd.com
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