Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/722943
7 TIM DIACONO AUSTRIAN Chancellor Chris- tian Kern has delivered a damn- ing indictment of the tax sys- tems of Malta, Ireland, Cyprus and the Netherlands, claiming that countries that offer low cor- porate taxes undermine the EU's structure. "What Ireland, the Nether- lands, Luxembourg or Malta are doing here lacks solidarity to- wards the rest of the European economy," Kern said in an inter- view with Austrian newspaper Der Standard. While the statutory corporate tax rate for corporations in Mal- ta is 35%, shareholders can take advantage of tax rebates when the company's taxed profits are distributed among them. This rebate on their dividends reach- es as high as six-sevenths of the tax paid by the company, effec- tively reducing shareholders' tax burdens to 0-5%. The government recently voiced concerns that the system could take a hit by an anti-tax avoidance package published in January by the European Com- mission to fight base erosion and profit sharing, that will work towards a common EU position on tax havens. Finance minister Edward Scicluna pledged to re- sist any attempt by the European Commission to reduce sover- eignty over Malta's fiscal affairs, a stance that was supported by the Opposition. In June, Scicluna announced that Malta would accept an up- dated version of the anti-tax avoidance directive, following amendments to the text that he said will safeguard the country's general system of taxation and the competitiveness of its finan- cial services sector. In his interview, Kern said that multinational corporations like Amazon and Starbucks pay less tax in the country than a local sausage stall. "Every Viennese café, every sausage stall stand pays more tax in Austria than a multinational corporation," Kern said. "That goes for Starbucks, Amazon and other companies." He praised the European Com- mission's recent decision to order Ireland to recover from Apple €13 billion in undue tax benefits, a decision that both Ireland and the tech giant have pledged to appeal. Following a long investigation, the EC ruled on Tuesday that Apple should pay the €13 bil- lion in extra tax, plus interest, to the Irish government because a long-standing tax deal with the US tech giant amounted to ille- gal state aid. maltatoday, SUNDAY, 4 SEPTEMBER 2016 News Inquiry launched into alleged abuse at nurses' council election TIM DIACONO THE health ministry has launched an independent in- quiry into allegations of abuse at the recent election for the Nurses and Midwives Council. The inquiry will be spear- headed by Joseph Caruana, permanent secretary to envi- ronment minister Jose Her- rera. Two candidates out of the five vying for a seat on the council filed a judicial protest on Friday, claiming that the recent election was marred by irregularities, which included the photocopying of ballot pa- pers. They claimed that two ink spots are visible on a large number of the votes cast, all on the same position on the ballot, which they said is an indica- tion that photocopies had been made. A background image featuring a sequence of letters in tiny print – added to ballot papers as a security feature – was clearly different in those ballots cast for the other three candidates, it was claimed. The election for the Council of Nurses and Midwives takes place every three years, but does not fall under the respon- sibility of the Electoral Com- mission. According to reports, no more than 700 nurses and midwives vote usually, on aver- age, but for this election close to 2,000 votes were cast. Shadow health minister Claudette Buttigieg had called for an independent inquiry to investigate the claims. "It is shocking to find such irregularities in the election of members of this council in a supposedly democratic coun- try," she said. "[Health minis- ter] Chris Fearne has the po- litical and moral responsibility to take the necessary action." Malta's tax system harming European solidarity, Austrian Chancellor warns How the full imputation system works MALTA offers an extremely competitive tax regime, in which tax on profits paid by the company distributing dividends is made available to the shareholder as a tax cred- it, to avoid double taxation on the same income (for the company and subsequently for the shareholder). A foreign shareholder re- ceiving profit dividends can request a refund on the 35% tax charged on those divi- dends paid by a company in Malta. The amount of the refund depends on the nature of the distributed profits and if these have benefited, or not, of any double taxation relief mechanisms. They could be as high as 6/7ths of the tax, which effectively leaves a 5% tax rate for the beneficiary. Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern (left) has delivered a damning indictment of the tax systems of Malta