We're paying for Victor Laiviera: so let's interfere in his form and function

Published: July 9, 2009 at 11:33pm
Bilateral agreement: il-prim u l-kap tal-collation of change jikxfu bust ta' missier Victor Laiviera. One, two, three, igbed Lorrins!

Bilateral agreement: il-prim u l-kap tal-collation of change jikxfu bust ta' missier Victor Laiviera. One, two, three, igbed Lorrins!

Victor Laiviera is protesting all over timesofmalta.com that he has a right to demand a say in what Renzo Piano does – just like every other Maltese citizen/taxpayer.

Hmmmm.

Hey Victor, be careful with that one – because on the contrary, as a pensioner you are not a taxpayer.

You are somebody who is funded by the taxpayer.

Does that give taxpayers the right to dictate how you spend your pension, how you get dressed in the morning and whether you/ve scrubbed up properly?

“I don’t like that shirt you’ve bought, Victor. Change it for a white one.”
“You’re spending too much at the supermarket, Victor. You should be giving more to charity.”
“I don’t like that book you’re reading, Victor.”
“Eat more fruit and vegetables. You need the roughage.”
“Are you wearing a vest? Go back inside and put one on.”
“Don’t stay out too late. I want you back by 1am sharp.”
“You’re going WHERE? With WHOM? No you’re not, mister.”

He who pays the piper calls the tune: well, it’s not such a great idea, after all, Victor.




25 Comments Comment

  1. Mark 2 says:

    ‘As a pensioner you are not a taxpayer’

    I know several pensioners who are also taxpayers. My father for instance.

  2. Milone says:

    Who paid for this?

  3. Ethel says:

    Whilst I have no sympathy for Victor Laiviera as he must be the ultimate of whiners, I beg to differ on what you said that the pensioner is not a taxpayer. Some pensioners who worked for more than 40 years and thus contributed by paying national insurance and paid their tax dues, now do have tax deducted from their pension. Just to put the record straight, that’s all.

    • John Schembri says:

      Daphne, everyone is a taxpayer, we all pay VAT, if we take the chit, that is. VAT is a silent tax.

      [Daphne – It doesn’t change the fact that Victor Laiviera is funded by the taxpayer, but that doesn’t mean the taxpayer gets to choose his shirts.]

      • He contributed to his pension so he’s not ‘funded’ by the taxpayer.

        [Daphne – You’re joking, right?]

        Here in tiny Malta we are all very aware of our public spending. As a citizen and a taxpayer he has every right to speak for or against anything which is paid out of our taxes, VAT, PAYE, and customsand excise duty. This land is his land from San Dimitri to Delimara even if he didn’t pay any taxes.

        [Daphne – Oh John, you miss the point. I didn’t say that people who pay no taxes have no right to speak (they even have a vote). I said it doesn’t follow that, if something or somebody is funded by the taxpayer, that gives the taxpayer the automatic right to interfere in how it is done or what shape it takes. And that’s why I gave the example of Victor Laiviera: the fact that he currently lives off the taxpayer – today’s taxpayer, not his taxes paid 50 years ago – does not mean that today’s taxpayer has the right to decide what sort of shirts he wears.]

  4. Milone says:

    I meant the monument, of course.

  5. Nigel says:

    What’s this? No discussion topics on the MEPA reform? Tut Tut.
    No more building permits in ODZ regions, well done PM.

    Is any action being taken against individuals (architects, owners, developers et al) who have found ways around the system to ravage our countryside. Are the politicians PL and PN who abused the loopholes in the old system being named and shamed.

    Are any developments that have not as yet been started or have been just started, being stopped? Are any permits being withdrawn?
    If permits were refused by the case officers and then the DCC approved them, are the people involved going to be censored, investigated or whatheveyou? Or is everything going to be chucked under the table just like the fraud at the VAT office and the illegal, fraudulent issue of hundreds of driving and marine licences by the ADT and the MMA?

    Action, please.

  6. Karl says:

    It’s true, Daphne, my Aunt soon to be a 100 years old, has been paying tax since she retired. She has no extras apart from her pension and a very few euros a month as a former Barclays Bank employee which are declared to the IR dept. Last year according to the Dept. of IR (year of assement 2008) she didn’t owe them a cent after PAYE deductions. This year, with her income equal to that of last year but less in terms of purchasing power, she received a bill amounting to 473 euros apart from that already deducted. How’s that for efficiency ?

    • Karl says:

      In my case, above, my aunt has contributed towards her pension in form of tax and in recent years NI (I don’t know what the situation was like, about 80 years ago, when she could have commenced her employment). As far as I know, now, when retiring and to get a ‘full’ pension you need to have paid tax/NI for 40 years. She has, therefore, not only contributed towards her pension but she has been sustaining others, from her pension, for another 40 years – when taking into consideration that she’s nearly a 100 years old, less a few months, As you mentioned, her pension comes from the tax fund to which she has contributed so far. Whether the ‘pension’ scheme will remain as is is another thing altogether.

  7. Luca Bianchi says:

    Hello all,
    will someone explain to me who this Victor Laiviera is? (or was)
    Why have they put a bust of him? (Or ‘ta’ missier.’)

    [Daphne – http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090111/local/nestu-laiviera-remembered Victor is his son and an apologist for the Labour Party, whatever its current incarnation might be. He supported even Dom Mintoff’s and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici’s governments, and then expects us to trust his judgement on matters such as….the opera house.]

  8. jomar says:

    Did Joseph show up on time, this time?

  9. il-Ginger says:

    Everybody pays for their pension, except the people of my generation. We’re paying for nothing apparently.

    [Daphne – Today’s taxpayer/NI contributor is paying for the pensions of today, not for his pension of tomorrow.]

    • John Schembri says:

      “Today’s taxpayer/NI contributor is paying for the pensions of today, not for his pension of tomorrow ” I really hate this hand to mouth system!

    • Graham Crocker says:

      I suppose I don’t have to pay NI anymore, after all others are going to pay for me.

  10. Nigel says:

    There have not been any comments by Daphne to any of the posts sent in to the various topics in the last two or three days. She must be on holiday. I think I’ll go to Lost Springs myself for a couple of days.

  11. Nigel says:

    Daphne, the Income tax department allows a maximum of LM4000 or Eur9317 per couple on which everyone does not pay tax. Any pension over and above this amount is subject to income tax on the difference. If the pensioner also works, full time or part time, he or she have to fill in the tax return form at the end of each financial year and of course, the income from the job is added to the pension and tax is paid for everything above the first Eur9317. These figures might have been increased in the last budget, I’m not sure. But pensioners can be tax payers like everyone else if their income supersedes the exempted amount.

    [Daphne – I know that. But it doesn’t change the fact that their pension cheque comes from other people’s taxes/NI in the present, however much tax/NI they might have paid in the past.]

    • John Schembri says:

      Daphne , I think your argument does not hold water. When one pays his NI one obtains a right for his pension when he reaches pensionable age. It is earned and it’s up to the social security department where to get the money from. At present we are paying through our noses for this thing: one tenth of our salary together with the same amount from our employer are poured in this fund.

      Nestu Laiviera was an MLP candidate and was also Speaker of the house; his son Victor did nothing of the sort.

  12. Ethel says:

    Today’s pensioners paid for yesterday’s pensioners and so it goes on I suppose.

  13. jomar says:

    Minn mindu l-aggettiv ‘dardira’ saret kelma oggezzjonabbli ghal-moderator?

    [Daphne – It’s not, but sometimes I have to draw the line at all these insults flying around. Teasing is fine and fun, but certain tones just create bad blood among people communicating with each other here.]

  14. Antoine Vella says:

    I don’t see why we’re going into the workings of the pensions system which is not actually the topic of this blog entry. Victor Laiviera has gone on record as saying that whoever does not pay taxes should not comment on Piano’s proposals for Valletta while those who do pay have a right to comment and take part in decision-making.

    It’s a moot question whether he actually pays taxes or not. The point of this entry is that, according to Laiviera’s own reasoning, were he – or anybody else for that matter – to be exempt from taxation he would not only have no rights but taxpayers should be entitled to take decisions for him.

    • If he doesn’t realise that he’s paying VAT, it does not follow that he’s not a taxpayer.

      [Daphne – VAT? Even tourists and birds of passage and non-Maltese residents pay VAT in Malta. That’s doesn’t exactly qualify them as taxpayers with a right to decide on whether we get a parliament house or not.]

  15. jomar says:

    [Daphne – Today’s taxpayer/NI contributor is paying for the pensions of today, not for his pension of tomorrow.]

    Sorry, I’m a bit late on this one, but if the above statement is correct, one has to assume that the N.I. contributions are included in the government’s general revenue? If that is true, then it’s another ‘only in Malta’ oddity.

    Also, in theory, the N.I. contributor of today is contributing to his future pension since the premium of today is invested in a way to grow by, at least, the rate of inflation averaged for the number of his remaining working years . This is an actuarial calculation which decides the amount of the premium to be paid.

    Adjustments to the premiums are necessary from time to time if unusually high inflation rates cause pensions to be increased thus depleting the pension fund faster than the projected rate as calculated using the anticipated inflation rate at the last adjustment.

    • John Schembri says:

      From what I am deducing there is no fund; hand-to-mouth is the order of the day.

      [Daphne – Ding dong. It’s been that way for decades. I don’t think national insurance funds have ever been ring-fenced.]

  16. Leo Said says:

    @ jomar

    Does your good self reside in Malta?

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