Additional fees and para-taxes pose significant threat to economy
22:32
The tax system in Poland has been keeping entrepreneurs awake at night. Mainly due to the unpredictability of the levies, which are increased and added every year. This year is no exception – we will face additional taxes in various spheres of the life of employees and entrepreneurs – despite the fact that the economy, battered after the pandemic, will hardly bear them. Unfortunately, it is impossible to calculate exactly how much the real cost of the levies paid by citizens to the state treasury has increased. This is because many of them are not explicitly called taxes.
“When someone asks me what para-taxes are, I answer: look at the cost of water, energy, garbage collection. And now there is a sugar levy and an additional excise duty. These are various other fees that are little talked about. This is a really very serious problem for our economy, difficult to measure in prices,” Piotr Soroczyński, chief economist of the Polish Chamber of Commerce (KIG), said.
Additionally, we now have 2021, which is extremely bad to introduce new taxes. We are very badly battered by what happened last year. Many industries are still waiting for customers to finally start spending money with them. With increased tributes, this money will be much less. The government raises taxes – and then it feels surprising that entrepreneurs do not want to invest.
“Investing, especially in the private sector, comes with risk. If we are not deeply convinced that the economic, legal, and tax environment will not change radically for a long time – then we do not take this risk. This also applies to citizens. Hardly anyone has the courage to decide to invest money at such a time. Soon the problem will arise at the level of households – who will be wondering whether to buy real estate or invest their money. This will significantly affect the Polish economy,” Soroczyński emphasized.
