For quite a while, Malta has been accused of allowing its financial services to be used as a tool by which corporations and rich people get to evade their tax dues. It is still claimed that an important aspect in this approach is the secrecy maintained around ongoing transactions. For a long while, we have been accused of serving as a tax haven by representatives of EU member states, to the extent that we have become accustomed to being in the dock on this issue.
Now, there does exist an index calibrating the secrecy practised by the world’s financial centres. It sets a scale for how this contributes to the impact of tax evasion by all financial centres. In the latest version of the scale, put together by the independent organisation Tax Justice, the Cayman Islands get credited with the greatest impact. They’re immediately followed by the US!
To be honest, Malta is not so far down on this measure. However, those who precede it include among others, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the UK and Germany.
As far as I know, none of these countries has been put on some grey list or other...
***
CASHLESS
All over Europe, including Malta, the pressure is piling up to get people to carry out transactions not in cash but via bank cards and similar. At the European Parliament in Brussels, banks are now removing even their ATMs from which one could obtain 500€ in cash. Everywhere, Malta included, banks are cutting services which cashed cheques or provided clients with cash from their own deposits.
Right across, one gets the message that these developments signal a great and irresistible change for the better. Yet a substantial number of citizens are being placed at a gross disadvantage because they have little familiarity with electronic technology.
Still as a friend of mine noted, another aspect of what’s going on is being given scarce attention: The transition towards a cashless society, based on electronic transfers, implies a total dismantlement of citzens’ right to privacy – regarding where they are, what they buy and what they pay for.
That’s disquieting.
***
A GOOD CAMPAIGN
The start of the Labour Party’s election campaign has been effective and direct. The communication of messages has been well focussed and right from the beginning, concentrated on the issues that most affect voters.
Actually Labour started with a disadvantage: all believe it will win the elections, including opinion polls. Whoever is in such a position must pay attention not to become over-confident; finds problems to make messages interesting; and might bow to the temptation not to describe the reality as it is.
Again, it seems to me that such challenges are being met by Labour with skill and intelligence.
Labour leader Robert Abela deserves full support. The challenge he and the Labour Party are facing is not a minor one. It involves projecting a sentiment of continuity as well as a commitment to a better way of doing things plus radical reform. Still, I think we’re on the right path.