Back in January, as Labour warmed up for the impending electoral campaign, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana struck an unusual high note by saying that the government “is not an overdraft facility” and that, hey, everybody including businesses ought to be paying Caesar. Fiscal morality has never been a priority for successive administrations, which have increasingly shown a propensity for amoral fiscality through their insistence on wobbly tax brackets, amnesties and incentives from which many businesses would benefit over the years, including and especially those who don’t pay their dues. Here was, finally, a politician who – while stating the obvious – said the right thing. His statement was rubbished by two sock puppets on the fringes of the PN, one of whom attacked Caruana for his “unpleasant” character, which apparently irritated some of his more charming cabinet colleagues. Possibly, it’s the finance minister’s refusal to be a yes-man which sees him cast in this role after a brief spell as Robert Abela’s chief of staff and his dour approach sets him apart from many flashier peers, products of the Mile End factory who speak in its algorithms. Thing is, there was no mention of...
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