Finance Minister Tonio Fenech yesterday would not comment on whether he was setting a good example by failing to ask his housekeeper for fiscal receipts, stressing instead that the legal responsibility to produce a receipt lay with the person providing a service.

Speaking at a business breakfast on Tuesday, Mr Fenech said a woman who used to help with his family’s housekeeping did not declare her income and failed to pay her National Insurance contributions. Consequently, when she was injured, she was ineligible for any sickness benefits.

His intention was to highlight the risks people take when they do not pay their NI.

Several years ago, the government had run a campaign stressing the consumer’s duty to always ask for a VAT receipt.

This would force the sellers to declare their income. When asked whether he was setting a good example as a finance minister by not asking for a receipt, Mr Fenech said: “I’m not going to enter into my personal matters.”

When reminded that it was he who had brought up this “personal” matter without being prompted, Mr Fenech said he did not deal directly with this housekeeper and only discovered her situation after she had hurt her back.

He insisted, however, that the legal responsibility for producing a receipt lay with her, and that there were “various methods of self-regulation”. “Any further comments on the topic would be superfluous,” he added.

The law does lay stress on the suppliers when it says that, save for some minor exceptions, they shall issue a fiscal receipt. ­However, it also requires people issued with a fiscal receipt to keep it for a period of 24 hours.

They “shall, upon a request made during the said time by the (VAT) Commissioner or any officer authorised by the commissioner, produce the said receipt to the commissioner or such authorised officer”.

Prior to the introduction of VAT in 1995, the government had run an advertising campaign stressing the “duty” of the consumer to demand a receipt.

“It’s your right and duty to always ask for and get a receipt. From the 1st of January 1995, when you purchase a product or pay for a service you are obliged to always ask for a receipt”.