The 12 per cent capital gains tax on property owned by a

purchaser for more than five years should be revised forthwith, said Azzjoni Nazzjonali. At least the owner should be given a choice as to whether to pay the 12 per cent capital gains tax or 7 per cent provisional capital gains tax.

As things stand, the 12 per cent capital gains tax is anachronistic and unfair. Considering the current trend of an annual increase in prices of circa 1.7 per cent, owners and developers are likely to make a loss when they sell their property after five years and after having had to pay capital gains tax of 12 per cent on the gross price.

Hence, the 12 per cent tax would most likely have to be factored into the price that the consumer will have to pay and is therefore in itself an inherent contributor to the increase in property prices. Furthermore, it is a major disincentive for those who wish to purchase property with the intention of letting, said AN.

Another issue that requires urgent revision is the discriminatory regulations concerning Specially Designated Areas (SDA). As things stand, a foreigner cannot purchase property to let unless it is part of a development that has been given SDA status.

This not only inhibits many foreigners from buying property in Malta to rent out, but is an arbitrary regulation and hence discriminates against those Maltese owners or developers who are not given such status. Such a regulation is, therefore, also against the spirit of EU legislation.

The role of government should not be one of fleecing owners, developers and consumers of their capital but, on the contrary, to incentivise a healthy and competitive market for the benefit of everyone, AN concluded.