Charles Mangion, MLP deputy leader and spokesman on the economy, said that excluding overtime payments from income tax would be beneficial, both to employees and to employers.

Overtime was paid at time and a half or more, and the situation would remain the same under Labour’s proposal, which would exempt overtime earnings from income tax. The workers would end up with more money in their pockets and have an incentive to work harder. Employers would also benefit by being able to accept orders more easily, and be able to spread their fixed production costs on more factory or hotel production.

There were also circumstances, Dr Mangion said, where some companies did not award overtime because they could not afford paying for the extra work. Or they were spreading the hours worked on more than one company, so that the workers would not appear to be doing overtime. By removing income tax from overtime earnings, employers could start offering overtime work.

The Labour Party believed they had to have more work, and work opportunities in the country which would make Malta more competitive.