Stop the clock. Turn back time and let’s go back to 1988, to be precise to 18 August. The place was New Orleans. The occasion: the National Convention of the Republican Party. The race for the party’s nomination for the 1988 presidential election was decided, and George Bush delivered his acceptance speech. That day George Bush had to read a speech prepared by Peggy Noonan that included a particular phrase that ended up as being not only the sound bite of the day, but also made history.

“Read my lips: no new taxes”.

The declaration made headlines and also headway as political analysts argue that this promise got Bush the support he needed to succeed his predecessor Ronald Reagan and become the 41st President of the United States. But the promise was a short-lived one as during his presidency Bush managed to raise several existing taxes. His “no new taxes” promise turned to be “more new taxes”.

Eventually Bush did not manage to be re-elected mainly because he crushed his own promise not to impose new taxes during his term in office.

That’s US history. Now let’s get back to Malta, not to go into Maltese history but to argue about present Malta.

Malta: the island where people are highly taxed. Thanks to decisions taken by Nationalist Governments over the years, we are today among those at the top of the European Union index related to taxes in member states. Unfortunately, in this index we are among the top, while where it really matters, on social indicators, we feature in the relegation zone.

Lawrence Gonzi and his government, hand in hand with the Nationalist Party, are standing at a record low when it comes to popular consensus. Most of all, our population is fed up of facing direct and indirect taxes. These, together with price hikes, are causing local families big problems to cope with their daily needs, and unfortunately we are witnessing a rise in the number of people falling under the poverty line.

So Gonzi and his team of highly paid councillors have to face this situation. With the Budget round the corner, and the country’s financial situation in a big, big mess, the government has to think of new ways to generate more revenue, but the only way Nationalist governments managed to do this in the past was by means of indirect taxation.

So the advice that Lawrence Gonzi got was to repeat the same old strategy that was used in the past years, meaning: “say nothing in the budget speech about new taxes and then impose them over the year by means of legal notices.” A piece of advice that Gonzi immediately adopted, going out in public to declare that there will be no new taxes in the next budget.

When I heard this, I immediately recalled the scene of George Bush declaring no new taxes, and what happened next is history. I questioned myself, “do the Maltese really believe Gonzi when he says that his government is not looking at generating the revenue it needs from taxes?” I know they don’t, because in this case, what happened in the past is a mirror of what we will get in the future and the ‘no new taxes’ plea will eventually turn out to be more new taxes.

The question is: “are Maltese families ready to face more taxes?” The answer is, “no they are not”. At least, those falling in the lower and middle class bracket are not coping with things as they stand today, let alone with more taxes.

The economy is stagnated. Consumption is at a record lowest. The purchasing power is something we treasured in the past and which we really want back as soon as possible. To shift this situation both the economy and consumption need an urgent boost. The Government should achieve this by reducing existing taxes. A reduction of taxes means more money in people’s pockets. More money means an increase in consumption and that’s the way the economic story goes.

The Labour Party, through its leader Joseph Muscat, is consistently asking the government to move in this direction. Reduce the current taxation regime. Give the Maltese a break. Give them some fresh air to breathe.

But it seems that Gonzi will not be able to do this as the most he has managed to say so far was, “no new taxes in the coming budget”. This, I stress once again, means nothing. He has not even said that he is ready to give the idea of reducing taxes a try.

For sure we will be getting another Budget speech filled with rhetorical phrases and arguments to mask what the real measures will be. Basically, it is the same as last year’s Budget and the ones before, and the end result, for sure, will also be the same, and we’ll end up paying more taxes than before, regardless of the ‘No New Taxes’ promised by Gonzi.

So, let’s prepare ourselves and brace ourselves for impact.

Gino Cauchi is a Labour MP