A couple with two children earning €60,000 will pay no tax from 2028 and save over €250,000 over 25 years.
Verified by Finance Minister Caruana's Budget 2026 speech (27 October 2025). For couples on the parent-with-2+-children computation, the tax-free threshold rises €13,000 (2025) → €18,500 (2026) → €24,000 (2027) → €30,000 (2028). Caruana directly stated: 'parents earning €30,000 each who have two or more children will not pay a cent in income tax' — that's the €60,000 combined Abela cites. He also stated the 25-year cumulative saving for these families peaks at €257,000 — directly above Abela's 'over €250,000' figure. Both halves are primary-source verified.
Verified by Finance Minister Caruana's Budget 2026 speech (27 October 2025). For couples on the parent-with-2+-children computation, the tax-free threshold rises €13,000 (2025) → €18,500 (2026) → €24,000 (2027) → €30,000 (2028). Caruana directly stated: 'parents earning €30,000 each who have two or more children will not pay a cent in income tax' — that's the €60,000 combined Abela cites. He also stated the 25-year cumulative saving for these families peaks at €257,000 — directly above Abela's 'over €250,000' figure. Both halves are primary-source verified.
We tested Abela's claim against Finance Minister Clyde Caruana's 27 October 2025 Budget Speech 2026, MTCA published 2026 tax-rate tables, the Budget 2026 amendment Bill text setting out the phased thresholds, and Maltese Independent reporting of the Budget 2026 family-rate restructuring. Both halves (zero tax from 2028, €250k+ saving over 25 years) require direct verification against Caruana's announced numbers.
Verdict lands at True because Caruana stated verbatim that 'parents earning €30,000 each who have two or more children will not pay a cent in income tax' from 2028 (= Abela's €60,000 couple) and that the 25-year saving 'will reach a maximum of €257,000' (= Abela's 'over €250,000'). The deep-dive lays out the phased threshold rise (€13k → €18.5k → €24k → €30k) and notes the 25-year extrapolation requires policy stability across multiple legislatures; this editorial note is methodology only.
Will a couple with two children on €60K really pay no tax from 2028 — saving €250K over 25 years
Both halves of Abela's claim trace directly to Finance Minister Clyde Caruana's Budget 2026 speech of 27 October 2025. They are not extrapolations — they are Caruana's own published numbers, picked up by the PM at the rally.
The phased threshold for parent-with-2+-children
| Year | Tax-free threshold | 15% band | 25% band | 35% band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 (current) | €13,000 | €13,001-€17,500 | €17,501-€60,000 | > €60,000 |
| 2026 | €18,500 | — phasing — | ||
| 2027 | €24,000 | — phasing — | ||
| 2028 onwards | €30,000 | €30,001-€42,000 | €42,001-€60,000 | > €60,000 |
Caruana's verbatim line in the Budget 2026 speech: 'in three years parents earning €30,000 each who have two or more children will not pay a cent in income tax.' Two parents earning €30,000 each = €60,000 combined household. Abela's '€60,000 couple, no tax from 2028' is straight-line copy from Caruana's announcement.
The €250,000 over 25 years
The €250K figure is also Caruana's, not an Abela extrapolation. Caruana's verbatim line: 'Over a period of 25 years, with last year's tax reduction and this measure, these families with more than one child will have had their tax burden reduced by a maximum of €257,000 in this computation.'
So when Abela says 'over €250,000', he is using a conservative round-down of Caruana's published €257,000 maximum. The figure is grounded in the Ministry's own calculation combining the 2025 tax cut + the 2026-2028 phased restructure.
Wider context
The Budget 2026 family-rate restructure adds four new tax computations: married-with-1-child, married-with-2+-children, parent-with-1-child, and parent-with-2+-children. Total cohort affected: 68,000 parents (per Caruana). Of these, 29,300 fall under the parent-with-2+-children computation Abela is describing. Total fiscal cost: €160 million over three years. Average saving per parent across the full restructure: ~€2,400 by end of year 3.
Caveats
Two limitations worth flagging:
- The €257,000 is the maximum achievable saving over 25 years for a couple staying continuously in the cohort with exactly the right earning trajectory. Actual outcomes vary by income, family composition, and how long children remain dependants (eligibility ends at 18, or 23 if still in formal education).
- The 25-year extrapolation assumes policy stability across multiple legislatures. The bands could be tapered, frozen in real terms (fiscal drag erodes the saving over time), or expanded further by future budgets. None of those reverse the headline claim, but the precise euro figure depends on the path.
So is the claim accurate?
Yes. Both halves of Abela's claim are direct quotes from Caruana's published Budget 2026 speech. The €60K-couple-zero-tax-from-2028 is the parent-with-2+-children threshold trajectory; the 'over €250,000' rounds Caruana's €257,000 maximum 25-year saving down. Primary-source verified.
Verdict: True.