Economic slump blamed for 33% rise in unpaid taxes at end of last year

According to the latest Finance Ministry figures, tax arrears reached zl. 4.5 billion at the end of last year, 33.3% more than at the end of 2000. VAT and excise tax arrears constitute 74.6% of the total, having increased from zl. 2.1 billion to zl. 3.4 billion over the previous year. The obvious reason for the large increase is the economic slowdown. "More and more often companies are faced with a choice: pay the VAT tax and go bankrupt or pay suppliers and continue operations," says Robert Gwiazdowski, head of the Tax Commission at the Adam Smith Center. Gwiazdowski stressed that these figures only cover arrears to which taxpayers actually admitted themselves. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B1) T.J.