Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1198602
09.01.2020 3 NEWS FROM PAGE 1 Abela said in the TV programme that foreign businesses competing with Maltese should not have a nominal 5% tax rate and that he would be taking on board concerns by Maltese businesses on foreign competitors qualifying for handsome tax rebates in Malta. e leadership candidate called for a level playing field. e proposal raised eyebrows be- cause it would tinker with the compet- itive Maltese tax regime that has come under increased spotlight in the EU over recent years. Malta has always defended its tax re- gime, which was approved by the Eu- ropean Commission during accession negotiations. Asked about Abela's proposal, Sciclu- na clarified that while it was true that companies with foreign shareholders get a tax refund when they transfer profits here, they are still obliged to pay tax in their own countries. "e situation is not entirely as the GRTU makes it out to be... it is not that all foreign businesses in Malta are pay- ing 5% and their Maltese counterparts are paying 35%," he said, adding that the country had to balance the com- petitiveness of its tax regime with en- suring a level playing field. "We have to see how to address the issues raised by the GRTU… but we are not going to willingly give up a tax system that is valid and accepted by the EU and over which Brussels has no jurisdiction," Scicluna said when addressing the question during a press conference held on Wednesday morn- ing. IIP may need some changes Replying to a question on a pledge made by the other leadership contend- er, Chris Fearne, to stop the Individual Investor Programme once the scheme is exhausted, Scicluna said the pro- gramme may need some changes. Scicluna said public finances did not depend on income from the scheme to achieve a surplus. "e budget is designed to achieve a surplus without income from the scheme. Whatever additional income is derived from the IIP adds to the sur- plus," Scicluna said. He added that Malta's citizenship scheme was unfairly targeted when other countries like Cyprus had similar programmes. "It is my opinion that we should re- view it. We have to see what we can eliminate from it and leave those things that are good for the country. It is my impression that even the Op- position has not said that it wants to scrap it completely. Everybody wishes the scheme to continue in an accept- able way," Scicluna said. Fearne has pledged not to renew the IIP in its current form when the capping limit is reached, insisting on changes to the scheme that has earned Malta rebuke from various European quarters. Abela has insisted that he will renew the scheme, adding that the income derived from it has been used for ben- eficial projects such as social housing. Only a portion of income derived from the IIP is included in the yearly budget with the bulk of the funds being directed into a National Development and Social Fund, which is managed separately from public finances and is akin to a sovereign wealth fund. Scicluna said that he had instructed ministry officials to prepare a dossier on pending issues related to public fi- nances, which he would present to the incoming prime minister for consider- ation. One of the issues he will be raising is strengthening the government pro- curement system. IIP scheme should be revised, but not completely scrapped - Scicluna Deputy PM and leadership contender Chris Fearne said he would scrap the IIP scheme if he became Prime Minister OVER the past two weeks, eCabs, the leading passen- ger transport services pro- vider in Malta, has opened up its infrastructure, logis- tical and operational capac- ity to enable a wide range of local and international courier companies to be able to complete thousands of deliveries to their final destination through its own network. In fact, eCabs embarked on an exciting venture to transform part of its logis- tics headquarters into a multi-user facility through which thousands of Christ- mas parcels and corporate gifts were delivered to their final destination using the transport fulfilment capa- bilities of the eCabs. The eCabs' facility became a veritable logistical hub where thousands of pack- ages were being received, stacked and organised, sort- ed on a 24x7 basis, with a tech-driven framework channeling the last mile dis- tribution to the intended re- cipients. On peak days, the Com- pany would manage to turn around hundreds of pack- ages every hour, relying on its unique blend of logistical expertise, infrastructrure, fleet flexibility and technol- ogy adaptation across the entire supply chain. At the core of this complex operation was the leverage of the Company's outstand- ing IT infrastructure which enables the optimisation of its logistical operations – a vital requirement for last mile deliveries. The technology – entirely developed by Cuorium Ltd, a subsidiary of eCabs – is now undergoing further develop- ment to be transformed into a cloud-based framework open for internationalisa- tion of the operations. "We have been pursuing our last mile plans for the last year and we wanted to use this opportunity to test it and assess the level of op- timisation we have reached. In reality, there is never a better time to test our logis- tical capabilities than this specific time of the year. The heightened seasonal ac- tivity creates increasing de- mands on our infrastructur- al capabilities hence pushing us to deliver more efficiently and with smaller margins of errors" said Greta Borg Bez- zina, the Director of Opera- tions of eCabs. Simon Debono, Chief Of- ficer responsible for Mar- keting and Business Devel- opment at eCabs linked the successful performance of the Company to its passion and commitment for the transformation of the trans- portation industry. He stressed that "the re- sults we achieved in our beta operation in the last mile delivery segment clear- ly reflects the capabilities and the potential of our op- erations. In 2020 we shall be seeking to extend the ser- vice levels of our operation transforming ourselves into the transport provider of choice for passengers and last mile deliveries alike. We shall remain focused on ex- ceeding expectations and passing on our efficiencies onto the customers by keep- ing prices as low as possible. This is our aspiration and we shall deliver it with an unparalleled passion for ex- cellence," concluded Simon Debono. eCabs enables the fulfilment of thousands of Last Mile Deliveries