Except when you live in a country like Malta where many cannot weigh an argument to save their lives.

Those who won the election knew that if they said they were the fairy godmother they would have been believed. Market research and a multi-million marketing campaign is what won the election albeit by hook AND by crook.

Have you ever seen an irresponsible parent inch their way to the head of the queue in a supermarket or bank? First they irritate their child with something they KNOW annoys him, forcing him to sit still for example or not allowing him to open a packet of sweets. Then the tantrum starts with crying and squirming. But lo and behold as soon as they are allowed pass forward they immediately promise the child a toy, give him the packet or let him run around. Their principle (or lack thereof) do what you must, to hell with the repercussions.

Persuading fools was a piece of cake.

He couldn’t have put it better.

How can I make a proposal for the AGM which I never attended, so that the BOV dividends will be paid by the end of this year and not in January?

For the company’s accounts it does not really matter whether these are paid in 2013 or 2014, but for the poor shareholders who are pensioners, jobless or families, this measure is going to hurt.

Now that’s talent.

Have you seen Joseph Muscat’s declaration of assets? He doesn’t have euro 650,000. It’s clear evidence of his absence of talent.

There are 50 shades of talent.

This is a ‘positif bagit’ so please no questions and no criticism, because if you do, that’s because you are ‘nekitif and geliss.’

It is the Minister who must explain this point, and although he was challenged about it on Xarabank by Mr. Tonio Fenech, he did not explain.

In the December 2012 version of the 2013 budget, Mr. Fenech had announced the revision of tax rates so that persons earning up to Euro 60,000 would benefit from substantial tax savings. In that measure the Minister did not discriminate between any of the sources of the income. It was a plain reduction in the tax rate by creating a new tax band just below the top rate of 35%. See pages 37 to 39 here.

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In last week’s budget for 2014, the Professor of Mintoffianomics had the following statement in the section on the further reduction of the tax rate for the tax band immediately below 35%:

“Ir-rata ta’ taxxa personali ta’ 32% applikabbli għal dawk li jaqilgħu anqas minn sittin elf ewro se terġa’ titnaqqas għal 29%. Dan japplika għal kull komputazzjoni: singola, miżżewġin u ġenituri. Din il-miżura se tiswa 13.2 miljun ewro. Kif kien oriġinarjament ippjanat meta ddaħħlet din il-miżura, id-dħul minn dividendi rċevuti minn individwi se jibqa’ taxxabbli bir-rati ta’ taxxa li kienu jeżistu qabel l-introduzzjoni tar-rata tat-taxxa marġinali ta’ 32%. Din il-miżura hija importanti sabiex ikun żgurat li l-miżura tat-tnaqqis fir-rata tat-taxxa personali tibqa’ sostenibbli.”

See page 9 here:

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I don’t know why he says that the dividends measure was planned like that before, because the previous PN budget did not contain any such measure. But that’s politics.

What I cannot understand is how this is going to be applied in practice. Does this mean that anyone falling in the income tax bracket above 25% will have one’s dividends taxed at 35%? If this is the case, this would create discrimination on the tax refund on dividends, because those taxed at 25% or less are entitled for a partial refund.

Is the Minister of Mintoffianomics on his way to eliminate the tax refund system on dividends paid to Maltese residents, whereby he will put in place a 35% final withholding tax? This would be crazy and outrageous.