About a year ago, a group of small French entrepreneurs took an ad in the papers in which they proclaimed the grievances of what they called ‘Les Pigeons’.

The French, in some ways, have words which signify more to the Maltese than for instance to the British. In this case, a Maltese translation would be apt: the French ‘pigeons’ are the Maltese ‘bciecen’.

We contend that we too have the Maltese pigeons or ‘bciecen’ but in this case they are not necessarily entrepreneurs but rather those on a fixed salary with everything declared.

These are the true Maltese ‘bciecen’.

They are taxed to the max, and everything they earn, and declare, is taxed to the nearest cent. If they happen to owe the government some money in tax, the government (any and every government) makes sure they pay what they owe and if they delay their payments, they face massive fines. They are the people the government first turns to whenever it faces the need to increase tax revenues: they are the first, and perhaps the only, to be squeezed.

At the same time, all around them, these Maltese ‘bciecen’ see people with a demonstrably better lifestyle than theirs. They can barely afford to live while these people next door purchase new cars, go on holidays, wear branded clothes, have boats, etc.

And without categorizing any trade, any time the Maltese pigeons need some maintenance done at home, or repairs done to their cars, or need to buy something, many times they find they are asked to pay in cash and with no receipts at all.

The parallel economy (not to be racist and call it ‘black’) is doing very well, thank you.

It is unfortunate that, unlike their French colleagues, the Maltese ‘pigeons’ have not thought of taking an ad in the papers. But the Maltese people do not need any ad to remind them they are ‘pigeons’ because they face the evidence every day.