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MT 25 May 2017

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3 maltatoday, THURSDAY, 25 MAY 2017 News PORTOMASOLIVE.COM REGISTER NOW 1 2 3 Register your personal account JOIN DEPOSIT EARN CASHBACK Place your deposit, play & participate in our promotions You're always a winner at Portomaso Live You're always a winner PL proposes 'Low Wage Commission' to adjust minimum wage JEANELLE MIFSUD THE Labour Party has proposed establishing a Low Wage Com- mission, following the advice of social partners, that will recom- mend adjustments to the mini- mum wage every four years. Addressing a news conference at Mdina together with MP Sil- vio Parnis and candidate Ro- sianne Cutajar, Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Joseph Muscat said that the PL's poli- cies focused on helping "working families". "We aim to have a social safe- ty net for genuine social cases where people cannot work, but our main priority is to encour- age people to seek employment. Education and work are tools against marginalisation and pov- erty and in favour of social mo- bility," Muscat said. A new Labour government, he said, would look into the pos- sibility of introducing a basic living income by giving fiscal in- centives to companies who offer such wages. "First there would need to be a study regarding the adequate level of income in a household and for a person," Muscat added. Other family-friendly meas- ures announced today include reduced transport and exam fees and increased children's allow- ance and tax refunds for families with two children who earn a medium gross of €17,000. In order to encourage people to become property owners, the government was looking to ex- tend the agreement it had with APS Bank, where the bank will also be covering the 10% deposit demanded by sellers upon prom- ise of sale, to include other banks. "We will also extend the con- ditions of the first-time buyers scheme to families who which to move house. This way, each fam- ily will save up to €5,250," Parnis said. People could also be exempted from the payment of withhold- ing tax on property, as long as this went towards certain types of investments. Moreover, a new Labour gov- ernment would extend childcare services to include more space cater to those working night shifts. Muscat added that a new La- bour government would not push up the retirement age or increase national insurance tax. Muscat: We aim to have a social safety net for genuine social cases where people cannot work

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