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GENERAL ARTICLES

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Tax without tears

Published on the Business Today, issue Wednesday, 26 March 2008

The merits of uprooting regressive taxes have recently hit the headlines prior to elections mainly in the manifestos of the smaller parties. The new prime minister contemplates this in a mood to paint our taxes green. In fact the fair isle of Gozo is destined to be morphed into an ecological paradise. This calls for a concerted use of renewable energy and better protection of the environment. This is all very desirable.

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Polishing a jewel

Published on the Business Today, issue Wednesday, 12 March 2008

Now that the euphoria over the general election has subsided it is time to calmly reflect on the number of electoral promises made by this new team of young Turks all eager to set the ball in motion under the motto ‘Yes, together everything is possible.’ The race for the best ideas on how to regenerate the inner harbour area was championed by both parties.

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Epitaph on a marketeer

Published on the Business Today, issue 27th February 2008

Little was written about the loss of Sir John Harvey-Jones in Malta’s financial press when he passed away on 9th January 2008 at Hereford County Hospital. Sir John Harvey-Jones, ex-chairman of ICI became a TV business guru associated with an eccentric look of long unkempt hair, colourful ties and a bonhomie smile. Undoubtedly, he portrayed himself as a outwardly confident and charismatic leader.

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The fight against treaty-shopping

Published on the Business Today, issue Wednesday, 20 February 2008

The worn out cliché goes that the only inevitable events in our life are death and taxes. The past 20 years have seen a measured, yet invigorating growth of the island as a financial centre. I remember clearly how in 1988, the year that ushered the birth of MIBA as a new institution, heralding the start of an offshore regime.

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Can the credit crunch hit us?

Published on Business Today, issue 13th February 2008

As an emerging economy, Malta, within an enlarged eurozone, enjoyed rapid growth in 2007. This is commendable. But are we set to withstand the spreading global credit crunch and a possible recession in the US? The answer is given in a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report .

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Are audit firms over-regulated

Published on the Business Today, issue 6th February 2008

The scandals that rocked the accountancy profession show no sign of dying away. Over the last few years public confidence in the auditing of company accounts was seriously shaken by corporate scandals such as Enron in the US, Dutch retailer Ahold, Italian Parmalat and Societe Generale in France....

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Democracy for sale

Published on the Business Today, issue 23rd January 2008

As voters have gone back to their normal work routine following the Christmas holidays they are a bit weary from the incessant bombardment of pre-election promises. Traditionally voters are afraid of losing what is theirs by right and are always seeking to get the utmost from whatever or whoever is the party in power. Now, as part of the EU club no effort is spared to make most of the eligible funds. With equal gusto voters sense that it is a jolly good time.

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Making a euro cross

Published on the Business Today, issue 9th January 2008

The new year gave birth to a new form of cynicism precisely that of combating the euro hype.
NECC reminds us that euro is extremely important to us. Its leaflets assure us of the net benefits that we are going to reap which in the long term are positive and substantial.

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Led Zeppelin returns this Christmas

Published on the Business Today, issue 19th December 2007

Readers during Christmas time may well stop and reflect on what this great event means to us? By now, most homes will be decorated with Christmas trees, coloured lights and paper or plastic decorations around the rooms (less than last year since surcharge bites). These days, more people decorate their front garden trees or house walls with coloured electric lights and prop up plastic effigies of Father Christmas assaulting their balconies.

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Bureaucracy beckons

Published on the Business Today, issue 12th December 2007

A big PR razzmatazz was drummed up four years ago when a White Paper entitled ‘A Public Service for the 21st Century’ was launched. It announced new public service charters. These would commit departments to deliver on what citizens could expect the public service to provide them with. Government services were to be packaged as part of a consumer-oriented programme, in which the taxpayer would be considered king, or at least be acknowledged to have significant rights.

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A city built for gentlemen

Published on the Business Today, issue 28th November 2007

Last week the headline news on Times of Malta augured a bumper Christmas for Valletta shops. This is not only a result of the laying of porfido tiles and savvy street decorations which are considered so spectacular that they warrant the Prime Minister’s personal attendance on its inauguration. Pundits say this sales bonanza has something to do with cash hoards surfacing before the closing deadline for euro conversion. Paradoxically ,shop owners in Merchant and St John’s streets have seen their sales plummet due to a six months delay in the paving process.

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Taxing consumption not work

Published on the Business Today, issue 21st November 2007

You will be forgiven if you think that after the announcement of the 2008 budget both political parties are being accused of promising too much. The Opposition is keen to launch its own promises based on four additional proposals whose true financial cost has been put in doubt.
These included a halving of the surcharge, abolishing tax on overtime work, giving back holidays that fall on weekends and reaching a higher GDP growth of 4 to 6 percent.

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