Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1489264
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 JANUARY 2023 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Another €137 million is owing from the pre- 1999 system of self-assessment (90%), which is also deemed uncollectable. A further €150 million in FSS income tax (70%) and €170 million in class 1 social security contri- butions and €119 million in class 2 contributions, are also deemed not collectable. An audit is currently underway with the eco-con- tribution approving body, under the ministry for environment, which has yet to collect €5.8 mil- lion from accommodation and another €513,000 in eco-taxes related to recycling. While various government departments had made substantial collection efforts for outstand- ing debts, the NAO remains concerned on the substantial amount of arrears, approximately 85%, that are estimated as not collectable. "Whilst prudence is important in the reporting of these figures, NAO reiterates once again that it is also imperative that a true and fair picture is given of the amounts owed to government." The European Commission's latest VAT com- pliance report finds that Malta loses out on some €270 million each year in non-compliance, which is more than just fraud and evasion and their as- sociated policy measures, but also VAT lost due to, for example, insolvencies, bankruptcies, ad- ministrative errors, and legal tax optimisation. In 2020, Romania recorded the highest nation- al VAT compliance gap with 35.7% of VAT rev- enues going missing in 2020, followed by Malta (24.1%) and Italy (20.8%). The smallest gaps were observed in Finland (1.3%), Estonia (1.8%), and Sweden (2.0%). In ab- solute terms, the highest VAT compliance gaps were recorded in Italy (€26.2 billion) and France (€14 billion). As a tourist destination country, Malta expe- rienced a significant decline in GDP of approxi- mately 8.3% during the 2020 COVID pandemic. Yet, the bankruptcy rate, which was negatively correlated with the VAT compliance gap, de- clined by approximately 16.1% in 2020. The de- ferment of VAT payments and the acceleration of VAT credit refunds was likely one of the reasons behind the improved liquidity and solvency of many economic operators. NAO 'concerned' that 85% of arrears are estimated to be not collectable Benedixt XVI, Holy See's ex-pope, dies 95 MATTHEW VELLA AMERICAN auto dealership magnates Alan Potamkin and Robert Potamkin are among Malta's latest acquirers of its golden passport scheme. The names of the Potam- kin dealership group brothers cropped up in the 2021 list of naturalised Maltese citizens, published as usual a year later in December 2022. The list includes the poten- tial buyers of Maltese citi- zenship, which is available to the global elite for the price of €750,000 with a minimum residence of 12 months, the purchase of a €700,000 prop- erty – or €16,000 annual lease for five years – and a €10,000 donation to a registered NGO. The Potamkins appeared side by side other relatives on the list of naturalised citizens: Robert with his wife Lexie, daughter Ayla and son Alex- ander; and Alan with children Adam, Andi and Cole. Brothers Robert and Alan Potamkin are co-chairmen of the Potamkin Automotive Group. As philanthropists, in 1989 together with their faith- er Victor, they founded the Potamkin Prize, often called the 'Nobel Prize' of Alzheim- er's research for recognising the achievements of scientific researchers pushing forward the field of study in Pick's, Alzheimer's, and related brain degenerative diseases. Lexie Potamkin is as former Miss World USA who has worked in public relations before becoming an ordained minister as well as working with the Dalai Lama and Ti- betan Buddhist monks in her human rights activism. In less positive news, heiress Andi Potamkin was accused of faking her lavish, $1 million Utah wedding ceremony by her former 'spouse', celebri- ty hairdresser William Jordan Blackmore, by allegedly con- vincing the friend officiating their 2015 nuptials to skip be- coming ordained. Blackmore claimed he thought the union was legal, and sued her years later when she dumped him and told him their ceremony had not been a legitimate one. Blackmore later dropped his case. Potamkin magnates get Malta golden passport Alan Potamkin with daughter Andi, (left) and his brother Robert with wife Lexie Potamkin POPE Benedict XVI, the Ger- man theologian and conserva- tive enforcer of Roman Catho- lic Church doctrine who broke with almost 600 years of tradi- tion by resigning and then liv- ing for nearly a decade behind Vatican walls as a retired pope, died yesterday at the age of 95. While a pope's death custom- arily sets in a motion a conclave to choose a new leader of the church, Benedict's successor Pope Francis was named when Benedict stepped down. But Benedict in death has put the Church into a moment of uncertainty, with questions about how he will be mourned, and whether a living pope will preside over the funeral of a de- ceased one. Well before his election as pope in April 2005, his support- ers saw him as their intellectual and spiritual leader who, as the powerful head of the Congre- gation for the Doctrine of Faith, upheld church doctrine in the face of growing secularism. Benedict's critics will remem- ber him as having done little to address sexual abuse in the church, as well as lacking the charisma of his predecessor, John Paul II. Francis fired or demoted many of Benedict's appointees, redirected the church's prior- ities and adjusted its empha- sis from setting and keeping boundaries to pastoral inclu- sivity. Yet he also built on Benedict's legacy, especially in addressing the child sexual abuse crisis. Benedict was the first pope to meet with victims, and he apol- ogised for the abuse that was al- lowed to fester under John Paul II. He excoriated the "filth" in the church and excommunicat- ed some offending priests. But abuse survivors and their advocates accused Benedict of having failed to go far enough in punishing several priests as a bishop in Germany, and in his handling of accusations against some priests as head of the Vat- ican's doctrinal office. He was also criticised as doing little to hold the hierarchy accountable for shielding — and so facilitat- ing — child sexual abuse. Benedict, born Joseph Alois Ratzinger, was ordained a priest in 1951, and named arch- bishop of Munich and Freising in 1977, the same year that he became a cardinal. Four years later, Pope John Paul II sum- moned Cardinal Ratzinger to Rome, where he became the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office responsible for defend- ing church orthodoxy, one of the Vatican's most important positions. He led the office for nearly 25 years. After John Paul II died in 2005, Cardinal Ratzinger was chosen as his successor. He took the name of a sixth-cen- tury monk, Benedict of Nurcia, who had founded monaster- ies and the Benedictine order, helping spread Christianity in Europe. The new pope, as Benedict XVI, would seek to re-evangelize a Europe that was struggling to maintain its faith. Ultimately, Pope Benedict bowed out during a period of scandals and immense pres- sures. He cited his declining health, both "of mind and body." He had said that he re- signed freely, and "for the good of the church." That resignation — the first by a pontiff since 1415 — is likely to be remembered as his most defining act. He lived in retirement in a monastery on the Vatican grounds, mostly stepping back from public life and dedicating himself to prayer and medita- tion.