Government asks court to hear VAT refunds case individually
The Labour party has accused government’s lawyers of attempting to prolong a court case seeking remedy for 18,000 car owners who paid VAT on their registration tax, deemed illegal according to EU law.
The PL said the government lawyers were insisting that each and every car owner’s case should be treated individually, an exhaustive process in itself.
Labour’s lawyers responded that this would significantly prolong the court case and argued that representing 18,000 citizens should be done using a practical approach.
The party’s campaign to collect signatures from motorists has resulted into a class-action suit to demand government refunds all irregularly collected VAT paid on cars since 2004, Malta’s year of accession into the EU.
The PL now claims that as evidenced from the first hearing that took place yesterday, before Judge Joseph Zammit McKeon, “government is more interested in dragging its feet that letting the lawyers representing these 18,000 citizens bring forward their evidence.”
The car owners are represented by Labour deputy leader for parliamentary affairs Dr Anglu Farrugia, Dr Alex Sciberras Trigona, and Dr Chris Cilia.
Government’s lawyers are deputy Attorney General Peter Grech and Prof. Ian Refalo.
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