Merill
15thJune2006, 21:00
Have you ever thought about this?
I'm no accountant, a professional person would be able to put this in much greater detail. I invite any professional to give better details.
Envisage this:
Every month, every wage of every working person in Malta is deducted by approximately 10% as NI. That means Lm 10 over every 100 Liri. PER PERSON. To be paid by both employer and employee which means the govt is netting Lm 20 for every Lm 100 paid in wages to every employee.
If the person is self employed the margin is 15% for NI. Guess the self employed will be benefitting of a better pension than other people?
Well I'm tyred of typing now and I'll just stop here.
That apart from the income tax. Which cheekily enough is calculated on the GROSS wage of the employee. So if an employee has to pay 20% in income tax he has to pay even on that part which he never even touched since it was deducted through NI.
Adding insult to injury there is VAT - this automatically increased prices by 18%. IE What previously cost Lm100 now costs Lm118. Nearly twenty quid more.
A small company with a turnover of Lm 50,000 every 3 months pays Lm 9,000 to the Govt every 3 months. Heaven can only imagine what the big companies and the factories pay.
PLEASE don't misunderstand me. I'm not making this post out of lack of sympathy for the current political party in govt. Whether there is one party or the other it's always the MLPN. Sant promised to abolish VAT in 1996 didn't he? Well he kept the system and changed the name. So he abolished VAT... and introduced CET.......
You can fool some people all the time, or all the people some of the time, but certainly not all the people all of the time Dr Sant!
Consider also all the taxes which relate to cars. I might not have the exact figure but the registration tax for buying a new car in Malta is somewhere around 100%. Which is practically the highest reg tax in europe.
What does that mean? That you're buying a car which costs you Lm10,000... but whose real market value is Lm 5,000 so you'd be paying double the price for the quality you expect of your car!
The yearly licence? Lm 40 for commercial vehicles and private vehicles may be forced to pay up to Lm 150 annually or more. Such increase had been introduced by the recent Labour Govt.
Car insurance? Why the heck on earth is it compulsory? Don't anyone dare to tell me that it is to safeguard the victim... Mintoff introduced that one, because in cases of car accidents some people were too poor to provide for the victim even if there was a court judgement in favour. Sure that might be arguable - but ergo it means that we should be making SO MUCH MORE practices compulsorily insurable in order to safe-guard the victim! Why do everything half-way? Why not insure govt cars the same way? Why not monitor the insurance companies' contracts so they can't create loopholes from which to slide out of their obligations?
To add insult to injury the cars of the government do not even have this type insurance so in the case of an accident one has to privately sue the driver concerned!
What else needs to be mentioned?
The VRT tests? Have the roads got any better since their introduction?
No they're still full of potholes. And in the places where the road is good and there are no potholes they make sure to make sleeping policemen every 10 meters like in Lija. That way they'd be sure that you wont' be passing your VRT at all. Because if they'd have not ruined your suspension system with the potholes they'd have ruined it with the sleeping policemen. Or with the other multiple-minature bumps which are felt as a vibration and which do no good whatsoever except possibly aid some people into achieving orgasm...........
On a different note it was extremely clever of the govt to pass on the buck to the local councils who at the end have to earn their revenue from the local wardens.
The system is a crazy one. So... one of the most significant revenues for a particular Local Council just comes from... guess where.... Yes the contraventions you and other people committed in that same locality.
Now that one pays a penalty for contraventions I have nothing against.
But last week a friend of mine got fined for having a brake-light not functioning. Now envisage this scenario - this guy lives alone. Practically his wife is the car... but whatever. Can someone tell me how a person can notice a brake light not working unless either he is told by someone in the street or else he has special mirrors and apparatus installed in his garage so that he notices the default before going on the road???
Do you think it is fair for this guy to be fined just because he didn't even know that his brake light hadn't been working? I'm sure that this person, hadn't it been for the actual fine, would have been grateful to the warden for pointing out his misdemeanor since he always strives for his car to be as perfect as possible!
But no, he was fined.
Now he has to appear before the tribunal and waste a good 3 hours which in his case would be worth more than the actual fine.
That means that even if he wins the case (Imo he should have been given a warning and told to report to the local warden concerned so that the warden would confirm he corrected the issue) he'd actually have lost more than he would have had by paying the wrongly issued fine.
Are the councils here sending the message that it is better for the individual to PAY a wrongly issued fine rather than press for their rights to be listened to?
Even if the citizen justly proceeds so, who will be paying for the expenses unjustly incurred? Like that same person having to take leave to appear for the sitting of the Local Tribunal? And the expenses are all the more exagerated in Gozo... I love my fellow Gozitans so much it hurts me to even think about the damage their wardens do by fining my cars and those of my friends... just because it wouldn't be worth to have a whole day's leave and pay the ferry with all the expenses to fight one's right in the tribunal!
Then Lou and Peppi and all the Catholic Church just re-iterate on 'having justice done'...
But on whom is justice being done?
Where is all the money going to?
Has the NI system got better? NO they are saying that it is in a crises and the pension age has been increased.
Have the roads become better? So that you don't feel it in your heart everytime you hit a pothole or a sleeping policeman or an orgasm-inducing vibration? No... apart from the roads which have been travelled by the CHGMO or by the Pope or whatever...
You're paying a heck of an NI... do you know WHY you're paying it? Ever considered if it might be better not paying it at all and taking a private insurance? After all that's what the govt wants so... paxxieh!
I always read the opposing views to the current govt, whether it's PNMLP or MLPN...
A couple of years ago they told the farmers to make an application (coincidentally costing some Lm50 or Lm100) to get the title of ownership of the land they have been working. They got the money... but the farmers didn't get what they expecting. THEY'RE STILL WAITING. But it seems that as long as the govt got their money it's happy.
Well that's natural and to be expected, no?
And let's assume as a final point, this issue:
What the govt has been taking from your earnings - and by govt I mean the MLPN party govt - Bolla, income tax, vat, tax on buying vehicles, VRT, local council "educatory fines".............
All this without going into the fuel price increase (just check any refinery prices online and you'd see what the govt tax is!), the taxes on property and on succession........ I'll be sparing you the details because it's enought you bore with me to this point!
THE MAIN ISSUE IS WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING?
We should be a rich country by now!
What other country has a government which can boast of an 18% share of VAT? And what's more the govt collects its share even if the retail company hasn't yet been paid!
Oh and I just remember... I just forgot to mention the eco-tax and other things....... but I never typed such a long post and my fingers are tired now!
I'm no accountant, a professional person would be able to put this in much greater detail. I invite any professional to give better details.
Envisage this:
Every month, every wage of every working person in Malta is deducted by approximately 10% as NI. That means Lm 10 over every 100 Liri. PER PERSON. To be paid by both employer and employee which means the govt is netting Lm 20 for every Lm 100 paid in wages to every employee.
If the person is self employed the margin is 15% for NI. Guess the self employed will be benefitting of a better pension than other people?
Well I'm tyred of typing now and I'll just stop here.
That apart from the income tax. Which cheekily enough is calculated on the GROSS wage of the employee. So if an employee has to pay 20% in income tax he has to pay even on that part which he never even touched since it was deducted through NI.
Adding insult to injury there is VAT - this automatically increased prices by 18%. IE What previously cost Lm100 now costs Lm118. Nearly twenty quid more.
A small company with a turnover of Lm 50,000 every 3 months pays Lm 9,000 to the Govt every 3 months. Heaven can only imagine what the big companies and the factories pay.
PLEASE don't misunderstand me. I'm not making this post out of lack of sympathy for the current political party in govt. Whether there is one party or the other it's always the MLPN. Sant promised to abolish VAT in 1996 didn't he? Well he kept the system and changed the name. So he abolished VAT... and introduced CET.......
You can fool some people all the time, or all the people some of the time, but certainly not all the people all of the time Dr Sant!
Consider also all the taxes which relate to cars. I might not have the exact figure but the registration tax for buying a new car in Malta is somewhere around 100%. Which is practically the highest reg tax in europe.
What does that mean? That you're buying a car which costs you Lm10,000... but whose real market value is Lm 5,000 so you'd be paying double the price for the quality you expect of your car!
The yearly licence? Lm 40 for commercial vehicles and private vehicles may be forced to pay up to Lm 150 annually or more. Such increase had been introduced by the recent Labour Govt.
Car insurance? Why the heck on earth is it compulsory? Don't anyone dare to tell me that it is to safeguard the victim... Mintoff introduced that one, because in cases of car accidents some people were too poor to provide for the victim even if there was a court judgement in favour. Sure that might be arguable - but ergo it means that we should be making SO MUCH MORE practices compulsorily insurable in order to safe-guard the victim! Why do everything half-way? Why not insure govt cars the same way? Why not monitor the insurance companies' contracts so they can't create loopholes from which to slide out of their obligations?
To add insult to injury the cars of the government do not even have this type insurance so in the case of an accident one has to privately sue the driver concerned!
What else needs to be mentioned?
The VRT tests? Have the roads got any better since their introduction?
No they're still full of potholes. And in the places where the road is good and there are no potholes they make sure to make sleeping policemen every 10 meters like in Lija. That way they'd be sure that you wont' be passing your VRT at all. Because if they'd have not ruined your suspension system with the potholes they'd have ruined it with the sleeping policemen. Or with the other multiple-minature bumps which are felt as a vibration and which do no good whatsoever except possibly aid some people into achieving orgasm...........
On a different note it was extremely clever of the govt to pass on the buck to the local councils who at the end have to earn their revenue from the local wardens.
The system is a crazy one. So... one of the most significant revenues for a particular Local Council just comes from... guess where.... Yes the contraventions you and other people committed in that same locality.
Now that one pays a penalty for contraventions I have nothing against.
But last week a friend of mine got fined for having a brake-light not functioning. Now envisage this scenario - this guy lives alone. Practically his wife is the car... but whatever. Can someone tell me how a person can notice a brake light not working unless either he is told by someone in the street or else he has special mirrors and apparatus installed in his garage so that he notices the default before going on the road???
Do you think it is fair for this guy to be fined just because he didn't even know that his brake light hadn't been working? I'm sure that this person, hadn't it been for the actual fine, would have been grateful to the warden for pointing out his misdemeanor since he always strives for his car to be as perfect as possible!
But no, he was fined.
Now he has to appear before the tribunal and waste a good 3 hours which in his case would be worth more than the actual fine.
That means that even if he wins the case (Imo he should have been given a warning and told to report to the local warden concerned so that the warden would confirm he corrected the issue) he'd actually have lost more than he would have had by paying the wrongly issued fine.
Are the councils here sending the message that it is better for the individual to PAY a wrongly issued fine rather than press for their rights to be listened to?
Even if the citizen justly proceeds so, who will be paying for the expenses unjustly incurred? Like that same person having to take leave to appear for the sitting of the Local Tribunal? And the expenses are all the more exagerated in Gozo... I love my fellow Gozitans so much it hurts me to even think about the damage their wardens do by fining my cars and those of my friends... just because it wouldn't be worth to have a whole day's leave and pay the ferry with all the expenses to fight one's right in the tribunal!
Then Lou and Peppi and all the Catholic Church just re-iterate on 'having justice done'...
But on whom is justice being done?
Where is all the money going to?
Has the NI system got better? NO they are saying that it is in a crises and the pension age has been increased.
Have the roads become better? So that you don't feel it in your heart everytime you hit a pothole or a sleeping policeman or an orgasm-inducing vibration? No... apart from the roads which have been travelled by the CHGMO or by the Pope or whatever...
You're paying a heck of an NI... do you know WHY you're paying it? Ever considered if it might be better not paying it at all and taking a private insurance? After all that's what the govt wants so... paxxieh!
I always read the opposing views to the current govt, whether it's PNMLP or MLPN...
A couple of years ago they told the farmers to make an application (coincidentally costing some Lm50 or Lm100) to get the title of ownership of the land they have been working. They got the money... but the farmers didn't get what they expecting. THEY'RE STILL WAITING. But it seems that as long as the govt got their money it's happy.
Well that's natural and to be expected, no?
And let's assume as a final point, this issue:
What the govt has been taking from your earnings - and by govt I mean the MLPN party govt - Bolla, income tax, vat, tax on buying vehicles, VRT, local council "educatory fines".............
All this without going into the fuel price increase (just check any refinery prices online and you'd see what the govt tax is!), the taxes on property and on succession........ I'll be sparing you the details because it's enought you bore with me to this point!
THE MAIN ISSUE IS WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING?
We should be a rich country by now!
What other country has a government which can boast of an 18% share of VAT? And what's more the govt collects its share even if the retail company hasn't yet been paid!
Oh and I just remember... I just forgot to mention the eco-tax and other things....... but I never typed such a long post and my fingers are tired now!