PN promises young workers five years of tax-free work
Party one-ups Labour pledge by making promise to young workers earning up to €50,000
A Nationalist Party government would exempt young people from paying income tax for five years on earnings of up to €50,000 a year.
The PN said the measure would cost just over €590 million to implement over a five-year period.
Party candidate Joseph Grech unveiled the pledge for the under 35s during a press conference held on Friday morning.
He said young people will need to have lived in Malta for 10 out of the previous 15 years to be eligible. The five-year tax break will kick in at any point in young workers’ first 10 years within the workforce.
Young people who choose to start their own businesses will also be eligible.
Earlier in the campaign, the Labour Party had made a similar pledge to young workers, promising them three years of tax-free income up to a maximum of €30,000.
The PN proposal unveiled on Friday goes further, extending the income cap to €50,000, the tax-free period to five years and allowing workers to apply the tax break at any point over a 10-year period.
The proposal was unveiled at a press conference led by party leader Alex Borg which also featured party candidate Bernice Bonello.
During the press conference, the party said it would also help people aged under 35 start their own private pension plan by depositing €1,000 per year for five years.
Bonello said students who become parents will also receive a grant equivalent to the national minimum wage, to allow them to continue their studies as they face parenthood.
And young people will be given greater access to sexual health clinics, counselling and screening services, she said.
The press conference also saw party candidate Grech provide more context on the party’s pledges to first-time buyers.
The party has promised such property buyers grants of up to €45,000 to cover deposit payments on property purchases and aid to cover up to half of mortgage payments for the first 10 years of their loan period
Grech said that the two measures would cost taxpayers €10.5 million in its first full year (2027), rising to just over €60 million annually by 2035.
The party believes it can implement the scheme as early as September if elected into government and says it calculates 900 people will be eligible by the end of this year.