European Socialists' tax harmonisation policy will deal major blow to Malta, PN insists

The proposed 18% uniform corporate tax rate across the European Union which is being proposed by the European Socialists' lead candidate for European Commission president Frans Timmermans would deal a major blow to Malta’s financial services sector, the PN said on Friday.

At a press conference on Friday, PN MEP hopeful Peter Agius said the financial services and iGaming industries were made up of hundreds of companies, employing thousands of people, and gave a substantial contribution to the economy.

Timmermans' clear indication that he wanted to implement an 18% tax rate for all member states could lead to Malta losing its competitive advantage over countries like France and Germany, who would be subject to the same taxation conditions due to the harmonised rate, he emphasised.

"We don't have natural resources or well-establish large corporations. What we have is the ability to set our own tax rate," Agius said, "...the PN will keep insisting on Malta's right to defend its own tax system. We will not accept that the European Socialists impose their own rate of tax on us. It is our duty as politicians, regardless of our party, to defend this right."

He accused the Labour Party and its MEPs of doing nothing to change the socialists’ manifesto proposal.

Fellow PN MEP candidate Frank Psaila said that the tax harmonisation attempt would affect the most important issue - jobs.

Our competitive advantage in the financial services and igaming sector is linked to our tax rate.

"If Timmermans becomes European Commission president, he will have a lot of power, and this will deal a blow to Malta," he said. “Voters have to choose between the PN, which is defending our system of taxation and which wants competition not uniformity in tax, and the PL and European Socialists, who want to introduce this system that will lead to an economic disaster."