Yes, there is a solution to the cleaning lady problem
Published:
September 30, 2010 at 1:50pm
Two minutes of thought after re-reading my own article this morning, and I suddenly realised that yes, there is a solution to the cleaning-lady/VAT problem, and it’s staring us in the face.
They can be given a special exemption from the obligation to issue VAT receipts, like doctors.
That will set up a scrum of objections and shouts of ‘unfair’ from all quarters. But tough.
People who give private lessons don’t issue VAT receipts, either. Is this another exemption or is it just taken for granted that this is the way things are done?
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Tonio should have thought beforehand about this housemaid farce, but I cannot understand all this fuss about the matter.
The positive thing about it is that we must be a graced nation to have such a stupid occurrence filling the front pages of the local media.
Well, if it had happened in the UK the minister would have been asked to resign. I’m not saying that he should resign but this amount of scrutiny on public officials is healthy in my opinion.
However, something tells me that most people are ‘scandalised’ not because he is a public official but because he comes from the opposite political side.
Tonio can always claim that it was his wife who employed the maid. Since she is not the Minister of Finance, the case would be closed and archived.
But this advice should have been given to him earlier.
But he also has to shut up and not give any more comments to the media about the matter.
Why worry about the solution to the cleaning lady problem? Labour’s living wage will solve it.
Yeps exactly what I was thinking. A legal notice is all that it takes. No parliamentary vote required. Easy peasy.
And NI contributions (what is known to the mlatasart underworld as, “stamp”)?
[Daphne – That’s still their problem. What I meant is a solution to the perceived problem their clients have in not being able to get a receipt.]
Doctors are obliged to give a receipt not a VAT receipt. What’s so special about private lessons teachers – it’s an income which should be declared like any other income.
Daphne, you are usually a very just person – what’s sauce for the goose is good for the gander.
Why should anyone be given any special treatment? All the allowances government has made on VAT are a result of the opposition’s original stand on VAT where they used the issue to win an election and then slapped us with a system which was even worse.
The doctors, like painters and cleaners and others did not want to be scrutinised and so they made pressure on government and unfortunately government accepted. Not only should we not allow more exceptions but this injustice should be rectified. Why should Dr. so and so be exempt and I, Claude Sciberras, not?
Now you also argue that a cleaner has a low income. Cleaners are paid more than the minimum wage. We recently were looking for a cleaner and the going rate was 5 euros an hour, some even asked for 6. At 5 euros an hour a 40 hour week would give you 200 euros a week. The national minimum wage stands at the moment at 153 a week.
If we accept that cleaners should not register for VAT etc then anyone should be allowed. If we accept that a cleaner should not have to fill in a VAT return then anyone should be allowed.
I understand that the circumstances are such that this sector is difficult to monitor and enforcement is almost impossible but we shouldn’t accept it.
I think that cleaners should be vat registered and fill in the annual return (as they would inevitably need to do as i’m sure they will declare less than 6000 annual income). I dont think its asking too much for someone to fill in a return once a year and if they cannot there is help and support available easily so there should be no excuses.
Government can help in closing up this loophole. Give a tax incentive (example tax exemption like the school) to all those who register their cleaning help (and others i’m not just speaking about cleaners because we have all sorts of workers in the black market including carers, gardeners, painters and handymen, hairdressers and beauty therapists etc). We would suddenly see a sharp increase in employment and particularly in the female participation rate.
As for the doctors, they should be ashamed of themselves. You would expect a cleaner to try and evade some tax but a doctor!
And let’s not forget that a few of them also register for unemployment just to make sure they have their cake and eat it.
Claude
Why go through all the hassle just to “see a sharp increase in employment and particularly in the female participation rate”?
Someone once said that Sabbath is made for Man, not Man for Sabbath. Replace “Sabbath” with “statistics” and you will find that your comment lacks something: the human element.
We are levied tax in order to give something to the common good. The State takes part of our income either to carry out public works or to redistribute that wealth among the needy. (Otherwise, it’s daylight robbery.) We don’t pay taxes to see shifts in statistical trends.
A good politician knows that flexibility and adaptability to the different situations of different sectors of society is sine qua non for good governance.
There are circumstances in which tax should not be levied or formalities not requested.
Doctors, for instance. I would prefer having my doctor keeping up-to-date with scientific and medical journals rather than their accountant.
Maids, on the other hand, are a different case altogether. Someone becomes a maid because they are intrinsically fearful. Otherwise, they would be businesspeople, professionals, or in some other job or occupation which brings responsibility in its wake. Instead, maids are fearful, and therefore they take the position of someone who serves someone else. Someone who is intrinsically fearful would stay at home rather than expose themselves to the “perils of taxation and formalities.”
So it is better to have black market employment, in this case, rather than no employment at all.
Incidentally, this is also the reason why it is very cowardly to boss around the maid. Only cowards bully the intrinsically fearful.
At least, my mother never bullied the maid. And my father, who came from a very strict Catholic environment in which guilt was heavily emphasized, always avoided her, as if “she had the plague” …
So I can understand Daphne’s point on not bossing around with the maid.
… and also to have common human decency and to treat even your maid with respect.
Quoting :
“Doctors, for instance. I would prefer having my doctor keeping up-to-date with scientific and medical journals rather than their accountant.”
I don’t think this is a valid reason for avoiding taxes. This would also apply to business areas where property or life depend on the skills and decision making of people providing services.
Joseph
If they do not issue VAT receipts how will they declare their income?
Yes, but someone must set an example. And who best but the highest authority, otherwise you are definitely right. In your own words: “these things are just taken for granted that this is the way things are done?”
More than 17 years ago, casual workers working less than nine hours a week used to be exempted from the national insurance contributions if they earned less than Lm300 a year.
AND IT SEEMS IT HAS REMAINED THE SAME.
It would be very wise on the media’s part to put pressure on government to increase this ceiling after all these years.
These casual workers who give a precious service to their families and employers, will then enter into the legality status with the obvious condition that they have to declare their income in their tax returns.