Morawiecki: retail tax will hit small shops hard

Small independent stores which are affiliated with larger retail brands may be unfairly hit by the planned retail tax, Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Development Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday. He added that this would undoubtedly have negative implications for the competitiveness of the retail industry and for the profitability of Polish businesses. He explained that the legislation in its current state would not differentiate between legitimate large foreign retailers and small stores associated with larger groups, and that they would be both taxed at an identical rate. This would either deprive the smaller stores of almost all their profits, or compel them to forfeit their affiliations, which would also decrease their competitiveness. The Minister added that there is also a possibility that this measure violates anti-discrimination laws of both the EU and the WTO, and argued that a more thorough analysis of the bill should be made to ensure that this is not the case. In related news, cabinet member Henryk Kowalczyk revealed in an interview with PAP that the retail tax is planned to come into effect on either April 1st or May 1st.