GRTU: Brussels’ recommendations ‘essential for business competitiveness’

The Chamber of SMEs (GRTU) wants government to zone in on areas of “rampant” tax evasion, complaining that tax departments were targeting “generally compliant” businesses.

According to the GRTU, other retailers are using other, non-registered channels to provide goods and services without paying VAT or eco-contributions.

“The revenue authorities keep going back to the same people that suffering heavily from undisturbed, unfair competition that seems to have become today an accepted injustice. GRTU is meeting with the Minister for Finance Edward Scicluna in the coming days to discuss the matter,” the GRTU said.

The association was reacting to the country-specific recommendations issued by the European Commission, which amongst other things called on Malta to achieve its 2020 targets for renewable energy.

“As things stand it is very unlikely that Malta will succeed in reaching its 2020 targets on the generation of renewable energy. A greater push is needed especially when it comes to investments by the private sector. Unfortunately recent schemes targeting investments in the private sector had been withdrawn and not re-issued,” the GRTU said.

The association said “inefficient government bureaucracy” was hindering business, saying that public procurement and the processes linked to it were highly burdensome, extremely costly and non-transparent, making it very difficult for SMEs to participate.

The GRTU also said the EC’s complaint on lack of alternative debt-financing routes was in line with its constant appeal that access to finance to enterprises must be made cheaper. “Taking out loans from banks is costly with high collateral demands, high interest rates and direct and indirect fees. Maltese businesses need cheaper alternatives.”

The GRTU said that Malta’s competitiveness and its enterprises’ competitiveness were not yet at the top of policymakers’ agenda in practice. “Whatever our policymakers do or fail to do has an impact on competitiveness. The issue is very urgent for our enterprises that compete on a daily basis with companies that operate in an environment where electricity costs are lower, interest rates are cheaper and doing business is easier.”