The black economy increased after the introduction of VAT, former Labour leader and prime minister Alfred writes.

“I still have to see a credible estimate of how big the black economy is... In spite of official denials, this has continued to grow,” he writes in his blog on iNews.

The truth is that any new tax is aimed to cover services pushes citizens, even the most respectable ones, to try to avoid it.

Some time ago, he continues, the European Commission had estimated that the Maltese black economy amounted to more than 25% of the official economy. “I would not be surprised if that estimate was below what the black economy actually was in those days... and is still much below what it is in today’s reality,” Dr Sant writes.

One cannot only calculate the rise in the services sectors of the economy, but it must also be recalled that there are other illegal means of business on which little is said – smuggling, drugs, gambling. “Nothing shows that these sectors became smaller in the past years,” he writes