Opposition leader Lawrence Gonzi this evening asked the government to declare whether it would maintain the three-year tax reduction plan which would see the top rate of income tax reduced from 35 per cent to 25 per cent over three years for those earning up to €60,000.

The plan was unveiled in the Budget, with the rate being reduced to 32 per cent, but more cuts were planned for next year and 2015. Howver, Dr Gonzi said, no reference was made in today;s Budget speech.

Speaking in his reaction to the speech, Dr Gonzi also said the Government was irresponsibly risking that Malta would be subjected to a new EU excessive deficit procedure by appearing to permit Enemalta to retain €66 million it had collected in duties on fuel, thus raising the deficit beyond the three per cent allowed by the EU.

(The government later replied that the funds were accounted for in the government's accounts).

In his address, Dr Gonzi said that the Opposition would be voting in favour of the budget  because what was good four months ago was still good now.

On the contrary, the Government would now be voting in favour of a Budget it  had voted against.

The Opposition would also be voting in favour of all ministry votes, it would not be moving no confidence motions or motions for the ministers’ wages to be reduced, as was done in the past.

The Opposition's position was motivated by the need for Malta to demonstrate  political, economic and financial maturity, stability and certainty and a message had to be sent to credit rating agencies to show it could be trusted.

A clear message also had to be sent to the European Commission that Malta wanted to keep to the fiscal pact, that there was commitment for this and that it wanted to stimulate more economic growth. This was a responsible choice, he said.

Dr Gonzi said that the Opposition was doing its bit for job creation.

He augured that the Muscat Administration would surpass the results obtained by the former government in areas such as jobs, education, health and economic growth.

Malta had obtained its successes despite a difficult international economic scenario.

Dr Gonzi promised that the Opposition would support the government in any initiative aimed at building upon the good it had found. However, it expected to be treated with dignity and not insulted, as it had been in the past days, such as in the use of certain phrases in the President’s speech.

Dr Gonzi said everyone knew what the budget read in November contained and where the taxes to be paid according to that budget were going.

But how did the priorities of that budget, that was again presented today, fit with this government’s programme as presented by the President last Saturday, he asked.

Dr Gonzi noted that Enemalta had collected €66 million in duties on fuel which had not been passed on to the government.

The minister had said this was one of the major factors which caused the deficit to grow beyond the 3% allowed by the EU.

 It meant that the minister was responsible for the fact that 2012 would close with a deficit of more than three per cent taking Malta into the excessive deficit procedure with the EU unnecessarily.

Dr Gonzi said it was untrue that his Government had planned to increase water and electricity rates.

It was also not true that some programmes announced in the Budget did not have funds allocated to them.

He said the Opposition needed a clarification on the measure for the reduction of the Income Tax Rate from 35 to 25 per cent over a three-year period with the first reduction being made this year.

He noted that the President’s programme lacked any reference to job creation, the financial services, i-gaming, maritime, Gozo and other sectors which had led the country to its success and which now employed thousands.

It had also lacked reference to the manufacturing sector, which also employed thousands of people, and tourism, including Air Malta and its restructuring process.