Experts comment on Szydło's economic proposals

Following Beata Szydło's policy speech, Małgorzata Starczewska-Krzysztoszek, chief economist of employers' organization Lewiatan said that plans to hand out PLN 500 for every child, increasing tax thresholds or lowering the retirement age would translate into bigger budget spending and not into economic development. "Szydło reiterated what had been said during the electoral campaign, there were no novelties, nothing surprising," Starczewska-Krzysztoszek said. "The Prime Minister said that the three main aims of the government are: development, development, development, however, what came later was: spending, spending, spending," she assessed. Chief Economist at consultancy PwC, Wiktor Orłowski, said that breaking out of the middle-income trap is an important goal. In order to achieve it, the government must increment investments and diminish consumption, however, Szydło wants to increase investments and consumption at the same time. Tax expert Radosław Piekarz claimed that Szydło's intentions to improve VAT and CIT tax collection efficiency are comparable to Poland's challenges, the effects of such efforts will be visible within a few years. He criticized the idea of taxing banks and large retailers as these moves will not bring in much income.