Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1462122
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 MARCH 2022 9 INTERVIEW this status with tax credits and fiscal incentives – and that this comes with obligations to- wards the environment, good governance, and workers, be- cause workers are not com- modities but people worthy of their rightful wage. But then I turn to workers to say that they have to give their service and work to earn their justifiable salary... But aren't workers in Malta al- ready working for their right- ful dues? Shouldn't wages be raised to fend off inflation and help people buy homes, with- out depending on the State's charity of cheques and ad hoc payments... Indeed cheques do help. A bo- nus is something extra – a €100 cheque that helps you extend a week's wage is no bonus, it's a necessity. I want to help people have a comfortable standard of living, so that cheque tru- ly is a bonus. We cannot fight the cost of living just by raising wages, but also by creating new jobs that pay better, with new economic sectors, but also by quelling the reasons for the rise in cost of living, such as our €40 million fund to assist busi- nesses address their costs, and open up the European market to our manufacturing industry which are hampered by our small-island status. Let me turn to your tax pro- posals: the people who earn less than €20,000 will get a 10% tax credit on the tax they pay, but those earning between €60,000-€80,000 get a 25% tax rate. I see this as being socially regressive: those who earn less get a tiny tax credit, those earning the most are getting a hefty tax cut, almost €2,000. No, because then you have a vast amount of benefits that go to the people who earn the least. That is why we want a living income that is more sus- tainable for these earners... What I am seeing is that high-income earners are get- ting a structural change in their tax contribution with a 25% tax rate, while low-in- come earners get benefits and bonuses... Don't forget that low-income earners also get access to a vaster range of services and payments... Why do high-income earners deserve such a tax cut? We're talking about 10,000 taxpay- er here, at a possible cost of €21 million according to the finance minister Clyde Carua- na... Because we believe we should reduce income tax rates and I don't think we should discrim- inate against those who earn more... I don't want to preju- dice low-income earners, but neither discriminate against high earners. But there is a discrimination here in terms of the level of tax cuts... You could say that... but I don't really agree, because I would be incentivising people to earn more and reach those higher brackets. I want people, who today might not be declar- ing their entire income, to pay their rightful tax. Every time we reduced tax brackets in this country, we had higher rates of declared incomes, and higher state revenues. Let me pivot to the environ- ment, specifically on the 2006 extension of building zones, and of course Labour's subse- quent expansionist planning policies. Why doesn't the PN bite the bullet on this reali- ty, whose effects we are still feeling today, and admits the error to propose the scaling back of the building zones? On this Abela and I agree: there are legal commitments and people's property rights to be respected. The error was made. The difference is that Labour wanted more land to be included in the building zones; from 2013 to this day, Labour had the chance to change this. So it is hypocritical of Labour to criticise something it had every chance of rectifying. Doubly hypocritical consider- ing that Robert Abela had been the PA's lawyer all this time, with his own hefty pay-cheques earned throughout all these years from the PA. Consider the status of the priv- ileged lobby of hunters in Mal- ta, now married to the Labour Party and even endorsing its very own minister of the envi- ronment, why does the PN still want to retain spring hunting instead of choosing a bias in favour of the environment and ally itself with the envi- ronmental lobby? We will give the environmen- tal lobbies a stronger voice, apart from returning public land to the ODZ; I don't think being a hunter means being against the environment, and I do believe as much. In my meetings with the hunting community, I advise them to practice their tradition legal- ly, because if not, their short- comings could penalise them. It happened under Labour: the season was closed by Joseph Muscat. What is crucial is that hunting is practised within the confines of the law. Labour is now proposing a national debate on euthana- sia. Can one be a PN member and be in favour euthanasia? I think it was taboo-bust- ing for the Prime Minister to speak about abortion, for the first time in a debate without any recriminations about the subject or about being pro choice... you yourself once advocated for a wider debate on abortion, then you cate- gorically declared that no PN member could be pro choice. Let me put it this way: is the PN a victim of some sort of Maltese exceptionalism? I truly disagree. I am proud that the PN is pro life. With- out life, you have nothing – no wealth, no chance to embrace your children, no work, no right to protest, you'd have nothing... this is what guides us. But you're a big-tent party. You have a diversity of vot- ers. Can the PN ignore this broad church while Labour is still opening up new fronts on these issues? I know what Labour is doing. And I will say that we must keep speaking to these people who are thinking of abortion services. We cannot be pro life when we know people are committing an abortion. To me that's bigotry. I want to see how I can help, to reduce that incidence. Maybe it's a lack of access to certain services. I am ready to discuss and explore this. But not to introduce abor- tion, but to help reduce its inci- dence. And if there's someone in the party who wants to have that discussion, we are ready to have that discussion, but not to campaign in the party's name for the legalisation of abortion. You see that Roberta Metsola as president of the EP is ready to uphold values that go be- yond the mere 'partisanship' of the Nationalist MEP... is this not the future of the PN, to become a true European- ist centre, centre-right party which goes beyond this sense of exceptionalism? Well, I object to this. Being against abortion does not mean one is not 'modern'. No, not 'antiquated'. We are talking about women's rights, and these are not just 'mod- ern' values... Look we started talking about hunting... if you shoot a bird, then you are against the envi- ronment; and if you kill a baby, you are antiquated. Let me put it differently: the debate on hunting is about a privileged lobby; the one on abortion is about women's rights and health, and not the killing of babies. To me it's the baby's life that is privileged. It is a defenceless person. As a human being, I have the obligation to defend that life. This is an abridged version of the full interview, available on www.maltatoday.com.mt PHOTO: JAMES BIANCHI / MALTATODAY