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6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 MAY 2026 Why is Labour playing dirty? Editorial ELECTION campaigns have a habit of bringing out the worst in people. Blinded by party loyalty and hiding behind a computer screen, some feel it is OK to resort to insults when posting their reactions on social media. For others, even family and friends be- come foes with whom to haggle with rather than in- dividuals with differing views engaging in respectful debate. Because that is the nature of a deeply ingrained trib- alistic environment where individuals are defined by the colour of their beliefs—red, blue or floater (spelt out in a denigratory way). This is not a phenomenon unique to Malta and to a certain extent, election time is an intense period where political messaging has a well-defined pur- pose—getting you to go out and vote. But it is amazing how election campaigns can also condition even the most sober of people into rushed statements and judgements. One such instance last week was Clyde Caruana's attempt to poke a €230 million hole into the Nationalist Party's income tax reform pledge. The finance minister was quick on the ball com- ing out with a simple calculation that put the cost of the PN's pledge at €360 million—a whopping €230 million more than what the PN had suggested in its presentation. At face value, the finance minister, a re- spectable no-nonsense technocrat, managed to sin- gle-handedly damage the flagship PN proposal before it could start sailing. Caruana knew that a simple calculation coming from someone who enjoys widespread credibility, would undermine the PN and cast doubt on the com- petence of its team players. But for a person who can read the fine print and understand technical wording, it is surprising that Caruana chose to go down this road. He could have used his self-avowed socialist creden- tials and criticised the PN's tax relief proposal for be- ing overly generous with high-income earners since their tax savings in real terms will be substantially higher than those of low-income earners. He could have criticised the PN for putting too big a burden on public finances. Instead, Caruana went for the easiest option even though it was disingenuous to do so. He must have reasoned that all is fair in war. The PN presentation pointed out two things that someone like Caruana would have picked up imme- diately as an economist—the €130 million cost cited by the PN was a net figure, and the proposal took into consideration the Labour government's budget com- mitment to reduce the parent tax rates over three years until 2028. These two considerations are crucial to the debate. The net figure cited by the PN means that the ac- tual cost is higher than €130 million. Adrian Delia explained that using the methodology adopted by the OECD and IMF, the party had assumed a claw back through increased consumption of around €70 million. So, government's net loss of revenue would amount to around €130 million. But there was also the second consideration. The PN's numbers took into account that by 2028, the government would have lost €160 million in revenue from the adjustments to the parent rate—this figure was cited by Caruana in the budget. What this means is that the PN's proposal would cost public coffers an additional €130 million over and above what the treasury would be forfeiting in 2028 as a result of Labour's parent tax reform. Journalists present for the PN conference may have not immediately grasped the fine print and the tech- nical explanation. But Caruana would have imme- diately understood it. He acted otherwise because it was politically convenient for him to try and torpedo the PN proposal at all costs. And the irony of it all is that the PL's own super bonus—a yearly expense of €200 million—added to the €160 million from the parent rate reform, would blow a hole in government revenue of €360 million, equivalent to the PN's base example. The PN can be blamed for not simplifying its pro- posal enough. It could have done better in breaking down its figures. It could have been more upfront about the full extent of its proposal's impact on public finances by emphasising the different components. But it surely cannot be blamed for having a faulty cal- culator as Caruana tried to imply. Rather than battling it out on frivolous stuff, we would have expected Caruana to argue differently; to harp on his government's credibility in delivering what it promises, to question the PN's ability to gen- erate economic growth to be able to sustain its pledg- es, or to criticise it for favouring high-end earners. He did nothing of this and coming from someone who is normally sober in his analysis and interpretation of facts it was a let-down. But Caruana's transgression was just one of two at- tempts by the Labour Party last week to hit back at the Nationalists below the belt. The other was the prime minister's claim that the PN's fuel hub proposal was given to them by "Mal- ta's biggest fuel contrabandist". Robert Abela said he knew this was the case because the same smuggler had given him the same proposal, which the govern- ment discarded. It's already bad that a prime minister gets to meet "Malta's biggest fuel contrabandist" but after admit- ting so himself, the least Abela could have done is mention the smuggler by name. He has refused to do so. Abela has also refused to explain when and where the two met, or whether he reported the matter to the police. Alex Borg has taken an affidavit denying the allega- tions. The PN's expert who has fronted the propos- al—maritime engineer and candidate Oliver Cini— has stood by his work, denying the involvement of a smuggler. The onus now is on the prime minister to divulge the details he has. We won't hold our breath but we do wonder why a party so confident it will win crush- ingly should play dirty. Quote of the Week "I am the smuggler." – – PN candidate Oliver Cini, a maritime engineer, who put together the party's proposal for a fuel hub at Hurd's Bank, taking a pot shot at the prime minister who made unsubstantiated claims that the proposal was given to the PN by 'Malta's biggest fuel contrabandist'. MaltaToday 10 years ago No orevolving door hang-ups for Fenech 8 May 2026 THE revolving door has worked well for Na- tionalist MP Tonio Fenech, who drifted straight into the world of private investment funds and joined former Bank of Valletta executives with- in months of losing his hat as finance minister in 2013. He even became the chairman of an advisory firm whose registered owner is a Brit- ish Virgin Islands company. Fenech, who left PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2004 to take up the job of parliamentary secre- tary for finance under Lawrence Gonzi, has de- clared a long list of directorships in parliament this month, together with his assets. Fenech, who spoke to MaltaToday yesterday, said that as an MP it was his right to have a sep- arate profession. "I assure you that none of the companies involved create a conflict of interest with my parliamentary duties," Fenech said, and pointed out that Maltese laws do not give ministers transitional allowances to prevent so- called "revolving doors" conflicts: that is, when government officials drift into the private sector they previously regulated. Three involvements in particular show the switch the ex-minister made to accept the cor- porate shilling from business groups also locat- ed in tax havens, even though there is nothing illegal about the services he renders. [...]