My friend was fined twice in a short time. According to him, both fines were very unfair. In fact, his initial reaction was to ‘contest’ the fines because he was convinced that both fines would have been revoked, if the hearings were fair.

The problem, which perhaps the wardens were aware of, is that contesting the fines would have cost him at least 300 per cent more than paying them. So he decided to pay the fines instead of contesting, because it was much cheaper. It is not the Lm30 (in fines), which made him very angry, but what he considers to be the unfairness of the fines.

He decided to get the money back – very fairly, and very healthily. Normally, he smokes about 40 cigarettes per day – which means about Lm1.50 tax per day. So he decided not to smoke for at least 20 days, and he managed to achieve that target, and to keep it in mind for the future. Purely in money terms he “saved” the Lm 30 he paid in fines.

As far as he is concerned, being unfairly “fined” by the wardens was very healthy for him. He does not even need to fight the wardens. They may have to expect a fight from the tobacco companies and the tax collectors themselves; but that is not his problem so it is not likely to give him a heart attack, nor keep him up nights.

He is now thinking of establishing a Union of Taxpayers, but is still looking for a suitable ‘General Secretary’ who can honestly be apolitical in his role.

Being “fined, even unfairly, can be very healthy. All we have to do is to stop complaining and moaning about the things we do not want; all we have to do is do something positive about them.

R. Debono