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 tax evasion anywhere during the electoral campaign itself. Instead, the two political parties spent much of their time promising fiscal incentives for virtually every business sector while patting themselves on the back, to the point that a business operator intervened during a debate to chide Silvio Schembri for taking credit for their work.

There’s a palpable element of dissatisfaction among the public at both quality and standard of life and a recent study published by the General Workers’ Union, Alleanza Kontra l-Faqar and Moviment Graffitti explains why, and for whom, the times are tougher.

The invasion of Ukraine has seen the price of bread levitate and many are tired of circuses, especially in times of war. So, it was refreshing to hear Caruana offer his frank views last Friday in a debate organised by Times of Malta and of how there’s an “element” of tax dodging in Malta.

This rather understated declaration elicited some tittering from the hall, even though it’s far from funny to hear how much money the government is owed in unpaid taxes, which surely cannot be entirely down to salaried workers evading their P3s.

But it would be even more interesting to know when, or if, there’s a limit to the minister’s patience when it comes to unpaid dues and if there will be a day when the whip will crack and major tax evaders are prosecuted. Interestingly, blacklisted developer Charles Polidano was arrested on allegations of corruption weeks after he coughed up €20m in overdue taxes.

Fiscal morality has never been a priority for successive administrations- Wayne Flask

The business community has often spoken up about the oversized civil service, a perennial complaint of theirs which is far from incorrect: sadly, there are entire districts in the employ of their respective ministries but you never hear of “nepotism” in the media anymore.

In fact, the other elephant in the room, although less than transparent, was equally ignored. Nobody mentioned the spate of irregular tenders, concessions and direct orders issued to various contractors in roadbuilding, tourism and hospitals, which have systematically drained Maltese and EU funds from the local coffers: the very epitome of administrative corruption and collusion, which often makes it to the papers but almost never to the courts.

Should we expect more years of free-for-all in public procurement or will mammoth power structures like Infrastructure Malta finally be reined in?

In being “extra careful” with government resources, Caruana also mentioned the involvement of the private sector in the €700m stash allocated to Labour’s “urban greening” promise. “We have to be creative,” the minister said, as hungry eyes looked up and sized up the prize.

This, apart from the government abdicating its duties to profit-based entities, may mean more concessions to private entities for the take-up of the already limited public spaces in our towns and our coast or ludicrous secret deals such as that signed with Sadeen, who spared us Żonqor but get to ruin Xgħajra for a pittance of its value.

I wonder what Caruana thinks of the cheap sale of public land, such as that handed to Silvio Debono in Pembroke, now that the state’s out of money to build the new ITS in SmartCity.

This is also why the minister should also look closely at the Lands Authority whose officials, for example, sold a public alley valued at €1m for less than €134,000 to developer Anton Camilleri tal-Franċiż. In fact, it would be ideal to exempt the Baviera from the energy-saving measures announced by Miriam Dalli; more darkness is the last thing that authority needs.

In a way, the economy on steroids of the Muscat years has come back to haunt us, very quickly. Caruana does not accept the responsibility for the mass importation of workers he engineered as head of JobsPlus, which has cast thousands in substandard conditions and turned property prices into an unsustainably expensive cartel, favouring developers, landlords and, of course, the eternal rulers of the housing market: the banks.

Similarly, he seems convinced that trickle-down economics and incentives will improve the state of government’s finances by speeding the wheel irrespective of the terrain or whether people are caught under it.

But this theory has been disproven by local studies, with the government preferring to throw money at problems via subsidies rather than tackling the root causes; there’s no intention to look at the low wages and even less to stop the Catherine wheel of nasty deals favouring speculators in roadbuilding, tourism, healthcare, construction and,  soon enough, sports too.

As refreshing as Caruana’s approach may be, claims of the government’s austerity and its expectations from the public need to be matched by decisive action from many authorities.

Until then, whether he believes them or not, discontent among youths, and not only, will continue to blip heavily in the surveys.