Morawiecki: Tax threshold to be raised gradually

Development Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told radio broadcaster RMF FM that the tax threshold should be increased gradually. Asked if it will be raised to PLN 5,000 this year, the minister said: "maybe not PLN 5,000, maybe less, we have to calculate it thoroughly." The law on the personal income tax threshold was ruled unconstitutional by the Constitutional Tribunal last year and its validity expires in October. According to the Tribunal, the law doesn't include a mechanism that would automatically increase the tax threshold to a level corresponding to the poverty line. Currently, the tax threshold is set at PLN 3,089 a year, while the poverty line, below which it is impossible to survive stands at PLN 6,504. Morawiecki also said that the the budged deficit in 2016 will be lower than PLN 54 billion and the government is not working on a FX mortgage loan conversions at present.