Budget enjoys windfall from 2006 capital gains taxes

The Finance Ministry, planning the budget for this year, envisaged that this 19% tax will bring about no more than zl.1 billion, meanwhile according to initial calculations the figure will exceed zl.4 billion. "Such a rare increase was caused by the bullish market last year," says Janusz Jankowski, chief economist with the Polish Business Council. During the whole of 2006 the assets of investment funds jumped from zl.62 billion to almost zl.100 billion. After receiving initial data, Finance Minister Zyta Gilowska declared that the 2007 budget deficit might be smaller by as much as 20% than previously planned. That means it would shrink from the planned zl.30 billion to zl.24 billion. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B1) A.K.