The Finance Ministry, accusing the opposition of irresponsibility, insists that people do not have a right to any refund of the VAT paid on car registration, though no court has yet decided on any such case. But at the same time the ministry does not at all say why it replaced the VAT charge, which had yielded it the considerable sum of some e50 million in tax revenue. If the tax was not illegal why was it removed? Certainly not out of respect for the highly taxed motorist – the respect the government has for motorists is more than obvious from the state of the roads.

I bought my car in 2006, and paid e680 or so in VAT. If I can claw back that appreciable sum, I will, so I will subscribe to the opposition’s legal case. And if there is no payment to be made for joining the suit, I will contribute e50 to the Labour Party, in appreciation. Whether or not the case is successful. Even if only because Minister Tonio Fenech did not at all flinch from telling us quite bluntly that we would get a refund only if we won a court case. Not out of any consideration for us.

The ministry keeps referring to the current economic downturn, but that notorious VAT charge was imposed when the world’s finances were not in the mess they are in today. Indeed, the charge was brought in when Malta’s finances, we were told, were sound. As such the ministry is resorting to subterfuge, to not use a stronger term.

In making its accusations, it is the ministry which is being irresponsible. For it is making them only because it knows that the opposition has struck a chord with people who feel squeezed dry by taxation and that those who paid the tax on tax, would like to have it back. As such, the ministry is not only being irresponsible, but also a downright threat to democracy. Though one of the reasons for joining the European Union was the strengthening of democracy. Are we now making the EU a threat to our democratic way of life?

Roger Mifsud

Rabat