|
Government’s concerted action to bring its finances to some normality includes fighting abuses. Many a citizen is abusing the system by claiming and benefiting from government funds, they are not entitled to. At times these abuses are taking place with the full knowledge of certain members of the political class. In all fairness, government has started to curb these abuses, but far more needs to be done. The curbing of abuses is an important cog in the fight to control Malta’s financial deficit.
The habit of having government employees ‘boarded out’ - awarding an early retirement on the pretence of being in extremely poor or fragile health is unbelievably high. Then there are the persons claiming unemployment benefits when they are in fact active players in the black economy.
Other abuses include some families claiming children’s allowance when their true income excludes them from this measure of support.
Another is the women who work outside the system and fail to declare their income so as not to prejudice their husband’s right to certain benefits.
All governments of whatever shade have traditionally turned a blind eye to these abuses. The thinking must have been that the inevitable effect on the deficit was a political price worth paying when compared to the vote catching electoral benefits.
This charade has gone on for too long and its full impact is only being appreciated now that the deficit has reached such unsustainable levels.
Indeed there is much evidence that many changes and amendments to social benefit system were at times even amended or fine tuned just to benefit a number of electors on the eve of elections. It is now perfectly clear that patronage has pushed the country into an economic crisis and that the situation must be addressed.
While appreciating all the efforts being made to cut waste, Government must appreciate that curbing abuse is a priority. It is common knowledge that the system of ‘boarding out’ employees from the public service needs looking at.
This system is neither open nor transparent. Too little is known about the many persons that are aided and abetted by some members of both the political class and the medical profession.
We understand that no fewer than nine thousand persons were boarded out from Government service last year with a disproportionately high number of them from Gozo.
This needs looking into, and if our allegations are correct a Parliamentary Committee needs to be set up to make the system more transparent and open in order to remove all possibilities of abuse.
The net effect of the boarding out system is that persons are abusively retiring early and benefiting from an early pension for which the taxpayer is meeting the expense. This is no different to the other forms of abuses and is totally unacceptable.
What is stopping Government from periodically following those unemployed who soon after registering unashamedly return to their illegal place of work? What is stopping Government from scrutinising the life style of persons registering for unemployment benefits?
Traditionally, our colonial attitude has led us to believe that cheating the colonial Government amounted to exploiting a foreign power that would inevitably carry the financial cost. This is no longer the case, cheating and abusing Government today involves a burden carried by the Maltese tax-payer. At the end of the day the cost of all abuses reflects in a higher deficit which will have to be met from taxation. A government campaign should be launched quantifying the cost of abuses to the average taxpayer. The campaign should state very clearly that encouraging persons to work outside the system by not declaring their earnings for services provided is costing the Government less revenue which eventually will be reflected in higher taxation. Act fast and act now!
|
