Flat-rate tax unfair - Kołodko

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Grzegorz Kołodko in an interview for public Radio dashed hopes of those who thought that a flat tax rate was a possibility. Among post-communist countries, Russia has been using flat-rate tax for a several years, and recently Slovakia and Ukraine have announced the introduction of a 19% flat rate. Nonetheless, Kołodko claimed that there has never been enough political will in Poland to implement this kind of taxation. Moreover, he assessed flat-rate tax as unfair and having no influence on a country's economic growth. Kołodko argued that progressive income tax is more just as the richest pay the largest sums. He also argued that as much as 95% of the country pays the lowest 19% rate. Only 4% of Poles are included in the 30% bracket, and only one in a hundred in the highest 40% bracket. (www.onet.pl) K.Ż.