We are, undoubtedly, a property-owning democracy. Many, in fact most, of us own our own homes and own them outright without loans.

The wealthiest people in Malta today are not the industrialists of the past, but building contractors, or those who have used their wealth from a variety of activities and channelled it into property.

Local banks are beginning to find more creative ways of using the wealth we have in property to finance our standard of living today. It is also important to point out that this is a legacy of Nationalist governments who particularly encouraged, and continue to encourage, this trend.

With this scenario, therefore, meddling in property matters without serious planning is not on. Any changes to property laws or taxation of property require very thorough investigation and appraisal. Property issues will be very hot by the next election and this is one area where the government really win back a lot of its middle class votes.

First, it has to show that these property owners matter. Secondly, it has to deliver on the ground the changes which will make people feel that this government is very serious about protecting and helping the very same property-owning democracy it has created.

There are many problem areas right now. The right of inheritance in the old fixed leases is a huge injustice par excellence. The perception that still persists is that we have an inheritance tax. People really do not want this in any form. With our very strong family and self-help culture, taxing the family home, when it has been paid for out of income which has been taxed over the years, is so unpopular it could make a substantial difference to an election. Ordinary pensioners with one second home who want to sell their investment are shocked to discover that they have to pay whopping 35 per cent (give or take a few cents) on any profit they have made, even though this so-called profit was made over a period of 20, 30 or 40 years.

They are taxed like speculators and this is encouraging people either not to sell (which is not good for the property market) or to find dishonest ways around paying the tax, such as under-declaring the value, or over-declaring the value of the furniture and similar measures.

When I very gently pointed this out, after having been told by Malta’s leading notaries that the changes John Dalli introduced were not having the desired effect at all (!) Michael Falzon, a senior person in the PN, chose to attack. First he said it was not true. Then he said we should not necessarily be encouraging people to have a second home or invest in property, and then he went into sarcastic mode because I said I was bringing up grievances that I hear about.

Luckily the whole PN is not in ostrich mode like Michael Falzon. I am focusing on his letters, however, not because I think his opinions are important per se but because they are symptomatic of certain elements in the PN that are spectacularly out of touch. There is such a dislike for certain individuals in the PN that people immediately shut off when they hear them speak or write and don’t even bother to tell them what’s wrong anymore.

Of course voters are demanding and they moan – and of course not all moans are totally justifiable. But minds have to be open, the people have to be engaged and this is no time for ostriches and ivory towers. It is empathically not that “all” and “I” squealing because we have to take medicine we don’t like. Some of the new taxes are just wrong and unfair. Peoples’ standard of living is suffering and they want the PN to appear as if they really do care about what they are thinking and will do something about it.

It could well be that prices will level off now, and that the boom time for speculators will slow. It is even more imperative that the government does everything in its power to protect people’s investment, whether this is a property stuck with an old rent or whether it is a second home.

Property matters matter. After all, I was told lately that the Maltese lost a spectacular Lm80 million in Argentina. I doubt the same will happen here with people’s property investment – although caution is always advised, whatever you invest in. Government should also be cautious about taxing property – very cautious.