Nationalist Party Proposes Slashing VAT Rate For Hotels And Restaurants To 7%
The Nationalist Party is proposing the lowering of the current 18% VAT rate to 7% for restaurants and hotels in a bid to aid the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Addressing a press conference in Gozo, the party’s chief spokesperson Peter Agius and candidate Ivan Castillo said the proposal was one of over 100 included in its document on the way forward for tourism after the pandemic. Another proposal will see tax due to the state repaid over a five-year period.
Agius noted that a reduction in the VAT rate was possible through derogations to European directives, adding that it would result in more investment at a time when the sector needed it.
It was only through an additional investment that Malta could remain competitive and return to pre-pandemic levels of activity.
Castillo said that investment in hotels helped diversify Malta’s tourism offering, with the PN also having made a number of proposals for the creation of new tourism niches.
Moreover, he said, the PN believed the government should be a main partner in targeted marketing, reimbursing up to €25,000 of operators’ marketing costs.
Finally, he said that a new PN government would ensure that national aesthetics standards are introduced in order to promote the gradual creation of picturesque urban areas.
What do you make of this proposal?
READ NEXT: WATCH: Around 300 Wild Finches Smuggled Into Malta Confiscated By Police
