Government to present budget amendment in January; 2000 deficit down

The government plans to present in January an amendment to next years' budget draft, as politicians from all parties charge that revenue expectations in the draft are unreasonably high. Even deputies from Finance Minister Jaroslaw Bauc's own political alliance, the Solidarity Election Action (AWS), have reservations about the bill. Andrzej Woznicki from AWS said that there are no grounds to forecast revenues from VAT tax at zl.62.3 billion, and personal income taxes are also unlikely to yield zl.25.7 billion. Finance Minister Jaroslaw Bauc said that the projected growth in tax revenues will be a consequence of the growth of industry and changes in tax regulations. The Ministry also hopes the situation will improve as the solvency of the mining sector and Polish State Railways (PKP) increases. In related news, the head of Finance Ministry budget department, Elzbieta Suchocka, said that the budget deficit decreased in November and possibly will not exceed the planned zl.15.4 billion at the end of the year. (Rzeczpospolita, p.B1) J.K.