There was a time when high-salaried high-flyers cooked up a chummy contract with the private company employing them to come up with a financial package consisting of a salary and perks. It was common for the salary to be a mere third of the perks.
At the time, perks were not considered as taxable income. Then, the Finance Minister stepped in and put an end to these shenanigans whereby perks were no longer let off scot-free, literally, and they became taxable income.
No 10-year free subscription to Times of Malta to anyone guessing what the next question will be (the first is in the heading is it within the framework of the tax law for the Energy Minister’s wife to have a sizeable chunk of her perks (running to three times her salary) going scot-free?