Wednesday, November 27, 2013

"Government should protect gas price for basic consumption”



The Communist Party of Malta appeals to the government to implement a national strategy to protect gas price for basic consumption, so every family will be able to afford to heat their homes during the winter months.

The Party continues to state that “a substantial number of persons, especially old age people ended up in hospital during last winter, suffering from colds, due to the fact that they could not afford to pay for this commodity. Others, on a minimum wage income are also finding it difficult to make regularly use of this energy”.

“The government is obliged to help those families in need, and is also responsible to protect gas price for basic consumption. Local statistics show that 86% of Maltese families rely on this commodity”.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Positive results for the Left in Chile.


 
The Communist Party of Malta welcomes the positive results obtained by the left in Chile’s Presidential Election. A new left Coalition has won the majority of the votes. This Coalition is made up of socialists, communists, radicals, christian democrats, and other left organisations and movements. In all, the left got 46% of the total votes against the 25% obtained by the right wing coalition.
 
“Bachelet’s left wing coalition is also expected to win the next run-off against Evelyn Mettei’s right wing coalition, on December 15th”.
 
The Party also applauds the election in the lower house of four of the former student leaders who were behind the student revolution that started in 2011, with one of them Camilla Vallejo representing the communists’ student faction in Chile.
 

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

“Positive but fails to address income tax rate problem”



The Communist Party of Malta views the 2014 Budget that although it has a large number of positive measures such as the reduction in energy prices, free child-care centers and incentives in the labour and employment sector, the party feels that the government should have introduced more direct measures to benefit those families with low and middle-low income, who are bearing the burden.

“The government could have been more socially just if his income tax policy was one that benefits all levels of society. Government should have adjusted the tax ceilings instead of just reducing income tax top rate for high earners. The tax reduction from 32% to 29% is anti-social measure”.
 
“Other positive measures announced are the measures to streamline the health system, education, measures benefiting the disabled, part-timers and students”.       

Saturday, November 2, 2013

"IVF Treatment should be free” – Communist Party of Malta


“The measure to introduce fees to IVF treatment will result in discrimination between the have and who have not. Through this measure the government is pushing forward the neoliberal agenda by introducing fees in the health sector, thus undermining social justice. Public Health service should remain free”, stated the Communist Party of Malta.
 
“Parliament should also introduce amendments to the approved bill to take in consideration the actual needs of the people, plus the fact that this bill is too conservative”.
 
The Communist Party of Malta insists that IVF treatment should be available to all women irrespective of their social status. This will lead to more gender equality as males could also be single parents through an altruistic surrogate mother. Gay couples should also be eligible to IVF.
 

Positive result for the Communists in Czech Republic


 
“The latest Parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic resulted in yet another positive outcome for the European Communist and Workers Parties. The Czech Communists won 15% of all the votes, 33 parliamentary seats, making it the Third largest political force in the country”.
 
“Another positive result was obtained by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) who in coalition with the Greens managed to get 9.8% of the votes in the recent local elections. 34 mayors and 213 councilors were elected, making the red, green coalition the third largest political force in Portugal”.

The government should not introduce indirect taxes on families.




"In Budget 2014, the government should not introduce indirect taxes that could hit low and middle income families. Indirect taxes should be on luxury goods or financial transactions of over a certain limit", stressed the Communist Party of Malta .

The Party insists that “the government should re-introduce the 35 % income tax rate between the bracket of € 20,000 and € 60,000. This is a progressive tax as it varies according to how much you earn. Workers on minimum wage should continue to be exempt from income tax. Government should start considering the introduction of a tax on empty buildings."

"Government should also explore other possibilities of more direct revenue from areas that are making windfall profits, such as the banking, financial and on-line gaming sector. Loss in the public finances is a result of a unjust system, where those who earn more, are contributing the least."