Comments on: The trick birthday-cake candle is back

By: my name is Leonard but my son calls me Joey

my name is Leonard but my son calls me Joey — Mon, 19 May 2008 15:57:47 +0000

@Daphne – trick birthday-cake candle? If you had a dark sense of humour you’d have gone for that interminable series of Friday the 13th movies. Incidentally, the most recent release came with the title “Freddy vs Jason” … but it cannot come to that surely.

By: Ray Borg

Ray Borg — Sat, 17 May 2008 15:10:09 +0000

@adrian borg

Alfred Mifsud’s survey and any other nation wide survey (Xarabank will be coming up with one as well) is a waste of time, money and energy. Democracy has dictated that the elected MLP delegates are going to elect the next leader of the Malta Labour Party and not Tom, Dick or Harry. Unless Mr Mifsud and other pollsters tell us how many delegates were caught in their survey net we are neither impressed nor amused by their ultimate, yet useless effort to boost their favorite candidate.

By: Amanda Mallia

Amanda Mallia — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:21:57 +0000

me – You stated “That last quote was by Mintoff”. It was taken for granted that it was, don’t worry!
Anyone old enough to remember him in action would have realised immediately.

By: Corinne Vella

Corinne Vella — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:57:49 +0000

MComb: Since you are employed and pay all your taxes and NI contributions (and particularly because something tells me you’d love the opportunity not to do that) take my advice and ask for a statement. You might find that though you’ve paid all of your taxes and NI contributions some might have ended up outside your IR & NI accounts.

By: Corinne Vella

Corinne Vella — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:40:28 +0000

MComb: The only thing that is clear in your Eva Peron way of thinking is that people like you are driven by grudges rather than by the urge to succeed. That is a recipe for failure not for success. People who are self-employed are not necessarily dishonest and people who are employed are not necessarily honest. You are also grossly incorrect in assuming that being self-employed automatically earns one a lavish lifestyle. Many people are self-employed and have none of the things you mention. Several people are employed and yet enjoy a better lifestyle than the people who employ them. The solution to your predicament is quite simple: let go of your employment and set yourself up as self-employed. Within minutes you’ll be rolling up to the door of your villa in your 4×4 after jetting home from your umpteenth luxury holiday on your private yacht. If that’s not possible, then please shut up because you’re not making any sort of sense.

By: me

me — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:36:04 +0000

That last quote was by Mintoff.

By: me

me — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:40:25 +0000

@Daphne
You wrote ……and not ‘equal poverty for all’

Here is an example of that mlp line of thought:

“Ahna ma nemmnux li jkun hawn xi hadd li ghalih wahdu jkollu yacht daqs il-freedom press. Kieku konna nistghu naghmlu yacht bhal dan ghal kullhadd, iva. Imma li wiehed ikollu yacht u l-iehor lanqas scooter ma jkollux, hekk le.”

(GWU: Konferenza Generali – 22/07/1974)

By: Adrian Borg

Adrian Borg — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:34:06 +0000

Have you seen Alfred Mifsud’s survey results in today’s Independent?

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=69260

Anyone with half a brain can see that GA is the best bet for the MLP to attract the non-diehard voters. But will the famous delgates pay any notice? No, they will go ahead and elect JM. When has the MLP ever did the blatantly obvious after all?

In 1996 it was clear that the substitution of VAT with CET was going to create an economic disaster, did that stop them?

In 1998 it was pretty obvious that they would lose an early election. Did it stop the delegates from voting overwhelmingly for it?

In 2003 it was almost certain that had the MLP accepted the referndum result they would win the election. Did they change their “partnership rebah” chant?

So no surprises this time round. JM will be leader, and Doktor Sant will stay quietly and invisibly in the background.

As GA say in his article today in The Times:

“We now face a similar choice: To change faces without undergoing real change or to go for a leadership that personifies change. We could just swap faces and packaging or we could welcome new attitudes and a new outlook. How we choose depends on whether or not we have learned the lesson of March 8.”

I think the choice has been made already!

By: Mcomb

Mcomb — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:00:52 +0000

You have no idea who I work for Daphne and you’re completely off the mark by your statement :)

By: David Buttigieg

David Buttigieg — Fri, 16 May 2008 07:57:12 +0000

@Amrio,

I don’t think anybody is condoning tax evasion, as an employer I certainly don’t.

I also agree that there is a lot of tax evasion going on, but most of the blame lies with the general public, there is an almost foolproof way of fighting it with the fiscal receipt.

Ah but when offered a discount for not asking for a receipt few refuse. If everybody had to insist on a receipt, tax evasion would decrease substantially.

My company deals mostly with other businesses and so a receipt is always issued for obvious reasons. However in 99% of the few cases I deal with the general public the standard question is “How much without VAT?”

So when people buy something without VAT this is tax evasion like any other.

Salaried employees who complain about tax evasion should think about that!