I wish to reply to a letter by a certain Carmel Camilleri of Paola (TMID, 31 October) who states that he does not want to pay more taxes for the whims of these people who send their children to private (non-Church) schools.

I do not wish to enter into any polemics regarding this subject as there have been ample letters appearing in the media on this topic.

I just wish to inform Mr Camilleri that people who send their children to private schools are reducing the amount of money spent by the government on education.

In the budget speech it was pointed out that the government spends circa Lm1,300 per student attending government schools. Thus, the tax benefits that have been announced, eg Lm280 less in tax paid, for two children attending primary classes in a private school, will be saving the government Lm2,320 (Lm1,300 x 2 – Lm280).

Mr Camilleri can rest assured that by sending our children to private schools we are saving the government money, apart from providing employment to hundreds of people, thus increasing the government’s tax and social security revenue.

In fact, Mr Camilleri would be paying more tax if all children attended government schools instead of private schools.

I conclude by asking people like Mr Camilleri to refrain from writing prejudiced letters based on social or economic class distinctions smelling of the class struggle of the 1970s.

Paul Rizzo

Attard