Will at least one newspaper editor formally request the Speaker for Konrad Mizzi’s income tax returns?

I have tried to register myself as editor of this website specifically to be able to do this, but the Department of Information informs me that the Press Act is anomalous in that it does not provide for news websites (or any other kind of website at all) to register an editor.

This is problematic, because under the Income Tax Management Act, it is not just any journalist who is permitted to formally request the Speaker of the House for copies of the income tax returns of members of parliament, but only newspaper editors registered under the Press Act.

The Income Tax Management Act allows for access by newspaper editors to income tax returns beginning the year BEFORE the member of parliament gained his seat and for every year he holds a seat in the House. This means that newspaper editors are able to obtain Konrad Mizzi’s income tax returns for 2012, 2013 and 2014 (the return for 2015 will not be available yet).

The request must be made to the Speaker of the House and not to the Commissioner of Revenue. It is the Speaker who is then obliged under the law to request them from the Commissioner of Revenue, who is obliged under the same law to then give them to the Speaker, who in turn gives them to the newspaper editor.

His income tax return should also include his wife’s income, because under Maltese law, married couples cannot file separate income tax returns even if they have separate estates.

This was the most obvious thing that should have been done as soon as the Health & Energy Minister began boasting about how rich he and his wife are, which is why they need a trust in New Zealand holding a company in Panama to “manage their estate’.

Newspaper editors – please do it. We depend on you.