The Ombudsman’s decision to award compensation to three returned Maltese migrants who were misled into paying excessive car registration tax, has been praised by Labour MEP Joseph Muscat.

Three emigrants who resided in the UK decided to relocate to Malta and they also wanted to bring their cars with them. When they asked the British High Commission and the Malta Transport Authority (ADT) about the tax involved, they were told that preferential tax rates of 10 to 16.5 per cent applied. However, when they arrived in Malta they were obliged to pay 65 per cent.

Upon EU accession, Malta had to drop the preferential tax regime for returning emigrants. However, both the Maltese embassy and the ADT website continued to provide the same pre-accession inform-ation. Mr Muscat called on the authorities to compensate the three emigrants. He also called on the government to seriously consider the introduction of a scheme for returning Maltese emigrants.

In the coming weeks, the European Parliament (EP) will be discussing the issue of car registration tax. Proposals include the abolition of this tax and the introduction of an environment tax instead. This, said Mr Muscat, would said lower the price of environ-mentally-friendly cars. The proposal has to be approved by all EU member governments.

The EP has already approved Mr Muscat’s proposal for governments to take a flexible stance on returning emigrants who have been away for at least two years and have decided to bring back their cars.