‘Not so cash-strapped’ - golden passport scheme featured in Italian state TV [Video]

This exposé on Malta's new sale of citizenship, the Individual Investor Programme, has opened up an interesting window on Malta.

The Italian state TV RAI current affairs programme Ballarò features an interesting insight into Malta's treatment of the citizenship scheme: Opposition leader Simon Busuttil's criticism is contrasted with highlights on Malta's burgeoning e-gaming industry, consumer culture, income tax cuts and tax rebates for foreign-based companies remitting their profits here, and also migrants and asylum policy.

MaltaToday has previously exposed the IIP's contradictions, pointing out how many foreign nationals living, working and bringing up their children in Malta often wait for years, perhaps more than a decade, to become naturalised citizens.

To put it into perspective, the IIP passport-flogging is another piece in the jigsaw puzzle of Malta's beneficial tax regime. Foreign companies can get up to 85% discounts on the tax they pay on profits they remit to a subsidiary in Malta, which is why giants like Australia's Commonwealth Bank or the UK's Npower have set up small offices in Malta to pay lower taxes here. EU retirees can pay 15% on their pensions at a minimum liability of €7,500 if they own a property that costs at least €275,000 - or, if they are still working, avail themselves of the flat 15% tax rate under the Global Residence Programme, again if they buy a property and are subject to a minimum €15,000 tax. Or if you're a chief executive officer for a Maltese firm, you can get any income over €75,000 taxed at just 15%. Anything above €5 million is tax-free.