The forthcoming budget will include measures to fight tax evasion, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech writes in an article on The Times today.

Mr Fenech writes: "We have acted without compromise in the face of abuse and with every budget introduced anti-abuse provisions to continue strengthening the departments' ability to catch tax avoiders and defaulters. So we intend to continue doing and we are already well advanced in the measures we plan to introduce in this coming budget to further combat tax evasion".

In the article, Mr Fenech defends the government's decision to offer a tax amnesty, a move criticised by a number of quarters on the basis that it seemed to condone tax evasion.

He says that, rather than a tax amnesty, the scheme was intended to allow the government to collect all the tax it was owed. "The only reduction being offered is in relation to the penalty and interests," he insists.

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