10 - 16 February 2000

Tourism Minister urges public to ask for VAT receipts

by a staff reporter.

The Minister for Tourism, Michael Refalo, yesterday urged consumers to ask for a fiscal receipt especially when they knew that the VAT element was actually being pocketed by the seller rather than by the State. Dr Refalo was speaking during the opening of the 16th Food and Drink Fair at Naxxar.

Dr Refalo said that the take-away sector alone was calculated to have netted over Lm10m. "I am sure that my colleague at finance would be a very happy man if he were assured that at least half of what was due in VAT from these outlets actually ended up in the State's coffers!" said Dr Refalo.

Commenting about consumers' reluctance to ask for VAT receipts, he said: "This is masochism of the first order! Had the State since day one received what was legally due in VAT, Malta's finances would be in much better shape and the Minister of Finance would not have had to resort to raise or introduce new taxation measures as had been necessary in recent years. Dr Refalo added that he was not singling out tourism or catering as being major transgressors because some practitioners in the trades and professional sectors had "perfected evasion techniques and made them into a fine art"!

Dr Refalo commented on the vast variety of food outlets which served local and visiting consumers. Malta has a lot of good restaurants and also her share of not so good and bad ones. "I cannot understand the attitude of those who complain about prices, service and quality and then week after week return to the same restaurants for a further share of non-service, indifferent food and Paris scale prices."

Referring to the current dispute regarding the use of skips by hotels and catering establishments the minister said that no one was asking food outlets not to make use of the skip service. The point at issue is that it is not conducive to public health and Malta's image for skips containing rotting, smelly, organic waste to be kept outside catering premises. The minister said that by law catering outlets should make private arrangements with swill contractors to collect their organic and other waste. A warning letter had been sent to all establishments and defiance or non compliance would lead to closures. Minister Refalo remarked that the police had been requested to take action leading to closure against restaurateurs operating without a licence and warned that the "enforcement tempo will increase and others would be prosecuted as well". "Levels and standards cannot be improved in the atmosphere of near anarchy which I found when I took office this time round."

Trade liberalisation and the lifting of levies and controls would bring about a level playing field and more competition, said the minister, and he expected this to work in the consumers' favour. "There was a time not too long ago when it was not possible to buy Italian pasta, when people travelled to nearby Sicily and managed to slip in some chocolate and other products.

"Ever since trade was liberalised not only is it possible to buy Italian pasta but Maltese pasta manufacturers have improved their product beyond recognition.

"One can say the same thing about wine. In recent years, Maltese wine had made a quality leap and in many cases is far superior to many imported brands," Dr Refalo said.