News | Sunday, 15 March 2009

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Mile-long queue on Mile End for PL’s tax action

Charlot Zahra
It was a right mile-long queue outside Labour headquarters at Mile End Road in Hamrun yesterday, as thousands registered their names for the class action lawsuit Labour will be filing against the government over the payment of VAT on car registration tax.
Over 14,000 people – 12,700 in Malta and 1,300 in Gozo – had managed to register with the PL’s action after queuing had started as early as 3am at Mile End, down Schembri Street and down the end of High Road, next to the MUSEUM headquarters.
The PL said it would be announcing new arrangements for those who could not register their names yesterday.
People waited for over an hour before signing a form authorising the PL to take the necessary legal proceedings to recoup the VAT they had paid on their car registration tax.
Shortly after 11.30 am, Opposition leader Joseph Muscat hailed the public’s response as “much better than we expected… the people want to have what is rightfully theirs.
He said this was the first part of a whole process the party would be undertaking. “We will continue insisting on this issue as long as the consumer gets what is rightfully his.”
Finance Minister Tonio Fenech has declared the government will appeal the case at the European Court of Justice if the Maltese courts accedes to Labour’s requests, which could entail a €50 million pay-out.
“We can say the same thing,” Muscat said. “If the Maltese courts do not determine the case in our favour – I say we are 100% right – then we’ll go in front of the European Courts to get what is rightfully ours.”
Asked from where should the government get the €50 million refund to everyone who paid VAT on registration tax since EU accession, Muscat said: “We have a government that out of the blue, after the Budget, in January said it was going to find €80 million to build the Opera House. I think it can also find the funds necessary to give them back to the people, and would also give an injection to the economy at a time when it needs it so much.”

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