Polish tax system in 34th place among 36 OECD countries

Among the 36 tax systems of the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Polish system was ranked 34, just ahead of Chile and Italy, according to the sixth edition of the ‘International Ranking of the Competitiveness of Tax Systems 2020’ by Tax Foundation. Although the nominal amount of CIT, PIT and ZUS was assessed as one of the most competitive in the OECD, the whole system was considered excessively complicated, with too many exceptions.

According to the report, Estonia's tax system is the most competitive. It is followed by Latvia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Lithuania and Sweden.

"Poland performs badly especially in terms of the complexity of the tax system and numerous exceptions (the complexity and the number of exceptions and preferences in the VAT, or the complexity of personal income tax, i.e. PIT and ZUS)," Aleksander Łaszek, PhD., the chief economist of the Foundation for Civic Development (FOR), said.

He noted that numerous exceptions and preferences have two kinds of consequences. First, they complicate the tax system, making it time-consuming and burdensome for taxpayers. Secondly, large differences in taxation make entrepreneurs focus on looking for tax preferences instead of creating goods and services that consumers will want to buy.

(ISBnews)