Parliamentary Secretary throws down the gauntlet

The government was "more than willing" to shelve the proposed eco-contribution if collection and disposal systems could be proposed and implemented by the private sector, Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech said yesterday.

Addressing a meeting of the Malta Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU, Mr Fenech said that if it were cheaper for the private sector to introduce its own schemes, it was in the interest of the sector to propose them.

Introducing the meeting, GRTU director general Vince Farrugia said that before the budget, consultations had been held between the Finance Minister and the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development on the increase in the VAT rate to 18 per cent. There had been agreement to shelve other taxation proposals, including an eco-tax.

The GRTU's members, Mr Farrugia said, were not to blame for the crisis in public finances. The chamber showed goodwill and it wanted to join the government in planning how to improve the environment through acceptable legislation.

Mr Fenech replied that whenever new measures, contributions or taxes were introduced, there were always calls to postpone them. The government could keep postponing the issue and say it could not afford to tackle the waste problem - but the consequences of this would be serious.

The parliamentary secretary said discussions with business regarding the operation of the tax had started before the budget.

A poll tax had been proposed but the government had refused to consider it. The government had also considered raising VAT but this would have hit more people and did not reflect the "disposal-to-waste cost" of a product.

He pointed out that only producers and importers were involved in the collection of the eco-contribution.

The government could not be criticised for failing to discriminate between environment-friendly and non-environment-friendly items when it came to bottles and batteries. There was no discrimination between eco-friendly and non-eco-friendly refrigerators because both had to be disposed of.

A GRTU member said that importers wanted the law to be postponed only by a month for consultations to take place and ensure that the law would operate properly.

Members, he said, should put up a united front because they could not continue to suffer.

Another said the government had to keep in mind that Maltese traders were now competing with giants who could afford to keep their prices low because they could buy in large volumes and he maintained that this tax would strengthen such competitors.

"Allow us to compete in order to continue creating wealth in this country," he said.