So the other day someone received a letter from the tax authorities asking him, as the seller of an apartment, to pay up for the so called under-declared sale of an apartment. The apartment lies in the south of the island on a street that is so ugly that only someone with nothing better to do would choose as home. The apartment was rented out for Lm100 a year to a Maltese family. The family offered to buy the flat for Lm23,000. The owners agreed to sell the property for the said price.
The contractual deeds prove that this was the fee in the sale, and the cheque was made out to the owner and deposited in the bank.
Needless to say, the tax authorities could not believe the price in the official sale. They believed the sale was far higher and that an undeclared amount was received by the owner.
No investigation was held, no evidence discovered and so a tax collection note was sent to the former owners requesting tax dues for an assessment of Lm48,000 for the said flat.
And that was that.
There is not a shred of evidence to prove that there was a real sale of Lm48,000; just a simple hunch by someone in the tax department that a flat in one of the noisiest streets in the south should not sell for anything less and that people cannot be that silly and sell a property for less.
You see, if you want to be stupid and sell a property for a good price, or if you need money and want to sell at any price, well you just cannot. The tax department is not in favour of lowering prices or of promoting stupid and silly people.
In former times, when Malta was described as Beirut and babies were boiled and swallowed whole and Dom Mintoff stood in as Malta’s premier, there were tax assessments. And ommi ma! If only you remember what In-Nazzjon looked like.
Of course the good old days of Father Beirut are over and so are the bad old days of page 13. Since then, it has been paradise. Yet, the other day, a notary was sent to prison. Yes, prison. And not for having pointed a gun at a fellow notary, or for having made false searches in the deeds. He was jailed for having not sent in a VAT declaration.
Yes, you heard right. He was imprisoned for having not sent in a VAT form. Now this is great news. Great news, because it goes to show that those who try and work within the remit of law, that is declare they make transactions and register for VAT, are more liable to be shafted than those who flout the law and make their money from undeclared activities.
Drug money is one example. And if readers of this column are unclear about who imports drugs into this country, they need only visit some of the more exclusive areas in Malta and Gozo and look at the extravagant villas and cars and boats the well known drug barons have at their disposal.
To lead us into paradise – of course – we are blessed to have Lawrence Gonzi. He too lives in the south and to get to his place you need a fresh pair of shock absorbers and a blindfold just to avoid seeing the ugliness around you. He is the same man who would make us believe that he is no different to other politicians. His new style of politics is so fresh and different from all the rest that this tax collection letter must be the only mistake or error carried out by Malta’s illustrious civil service.
The tax authorities today are run by civil servants. They are the ones who run this country and they are the ones who make peoples’ lives so friggin’ miserable that if you could you would just emigrate and not return.
Miserable is of course an understatement. Some moons ago I was talking to Vince Farrugia, the same Vince who today stands as a PN candidate. He castigated the tax authorities for turning on businessmen as if they were criminals.
And if there is anyone to blame for the way the tax authorities treat people, then it has to be the politicians. The same politicians who appear every Sunday morning in party clubs and preach like bored monsignors; that what they are doing is because they believe they are the saviours of this country.
I tell you, the other day I was listening to Lawrence Gonzi and I was close to being duped. I was close to being led to believe that what he says is really worth thinking about. For the last 22 years we have heard about the need to reform the civil service and of laws which should be changed and of this and that, and guess what? We never hear about the dire need to change the politicians who create and implement these laws.
And as we go taxing people or creating new ways of taxation, politicians are in a great panic to encourage more people to vote in the next election in June 6. The first attempt to panic the Nationalists who do not wish to vote, was echoed on PBS news with a special reportage on a survey by a Brussels-based body that was based not on polls but on an extrapolation of previous electoral results.
You see, to get mentioned on PBS news you need to have a foreign DNA and blonde hair. Needless to say, the head of news at PBS did not feel the need to report other polls published locally and based on real numbers.
Why? Good question. We asked Mr Natalino Fenech, but since he is only paid by public funds, it does not really matter if does not answer.
Now we have an amendment in parliament for those wishing to vote a week before in the European elections. The move came about after some problem with the Olympic team that is not going to be here on election day. Gee, what a tragedy. I would really tear my hair out if I was denied the chance to vote for the one and only David Casa. I really know that David would want it from me.
It is of course irrelevant when or how to vote. Whether we vote in the next elections is not the question. What is important is to remember that most of the individuals who do return to vote from Europe are in their vast majority Nationalists.
If Canadian and Australian Maltese had ID cards and could travel to Malta at relatively cheap prices they would surely raise a few eyebrows at the Stamperija*. The migrants there are predominantly Labourites.
So thankfully for Paul Borg Olivier, Air Malta does not fly to Sidney or Toronto.
And since we are on Air Malta, I hope that Air Malta does not provide discounted flights on election day and the week before. If anyone should be having discounted flights it should be the thousands of potential tourists who refuse to come to Malta because we so are so bloody expensive.
Really, someone should get their priorities right. While Gonzi worries who is going to vote and how to get more people here to vote, the real worry should be getting tourists. Electing the likes of Vince Farrugia and Louis Grech to Brussels will do nothing to help our tourism.
So if Air Malta is really considering undercutting prices for flights on election day, I should warn them to beware of the prying eyes of the tax authorities.
The last time someone tried getting rid of an apartment and selling it for Lm23,000 he received a note from the tax authorities to make up for the ‘underdeclared’ sale.
*Stamperija, a place built on donations from the Little Sisters of the Poor
Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below. Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.
Download front page in pdf file format
All the interviews from Reporter on MaltaToday's YouTube channel.
The apartment lies in the south of the island on a street that is so ugly that only someone with nothing better to do would choose as home. The apartment was rented out for Lm100 a year to a Maltese family. The family offered to buy the flat for Lm23,000. The owners agreed to sell the property for the said price.
