‘Beggars can’t be choosers, but if we had a wiser government we’d have a much better budget’ – PD

"Beggars can't be choosers, however, if we had a wiser government we'd have a much better budget, the PD said in reaction to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's budget speech yesterday.

"In the budget measures, the government has distributed €102 million to the Maltese and Gozitan population through various schemes. This is much less than the government gave to, and saved money for, one business alone. The government gave the db Group one piece of land which is valued at €200 million for only €15 million. If the government had sold it at market value, what was given to the Maltese and Gozitan population for this year could have been doubled."

"It has also been said that ODZ land isn't going to be used to solve the problem of social housing. The government could have bought dwellings already built, or used land already owned by the government which isn't ODZ. We cannot forget that the AUM was given ODZ land."

"Our country's deficit for this year is €6.6 billion, when the government has also sold our country's assets which include our citizenship and our natural and historical heritage. Between 2013 and 2018, Malta's deficit has increased by €1.6 billion."

"What has been decreased from the deficit this year isn't even enough to pay the interest amounting to €306 million."

The PD said that it isn't how much the Government spends that matters, it is how the Government administers income. "For example, compared to other countries, Malta spends the most on education and yet, we have the highest rate of early school leavers."

"The government is saying that the cost of living hasn't gone up. The government is offering a surplus instead of a living wage and a living pension. You cannot talk about having a surplus if you still have families at risk of poverty."

"The cost of living has increased a lot more than the increase given to pensioners. Therefore, the spending power of pensions has decreased, not increased. It isn't the number of women in employment that counts. It is their hourly wage income. They leave their children in child care centres and struggle to keep up with the housework when they get back home. They are paid less than men and work double!

from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2Stb09w
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