Parliamentarians' property declarations to be passed to tax authorities

The Sejm decided yesterday that the property declarations of members of both the Sejm and the Senat will remain confidential. Solidarity Election Action (AWS) had proposed that the property ownership declarations by parliamentarians, as elected representatives of the people, should be made available to anyone interested in them through publication on the Internet. However, the Sejm rejected the proposal, and the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) succeeded in having a motion passed that property declarations should remain confidential. This means that as before, one copy of a property statement will be filed with the parliamentary commission. However, in a new departure, a second copy will now be forwarded to the tax office, which will be able to verify a parliamentarian's property declaration against his tax returns. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1) P.J.