President rules out flat tax

At a meeting with businesspeople organized by the International Group of Chambers of Commerce, President Lech Kaczyński stressed that the government is very interested in foreign investments, especially those that create new jobs. He added that the structure of FDI is evolving in the right direction with a growing number of investments in production facilities.

"There are investments and investments. We are of course extremely keen on knowledge-based technology solutions ... Poland should also welcome production-related investments in both high technology and medium-level technology if we want to solve the problem of unemployment," Kaczyński told the meeting.

He added that the government is determined to lift the barriers to doing business in Poland. "The government's top priority is stamping out corruption. The problem of inefficient administration stems from two phenomena - corruption and overcomplicated procedures," he said. "The problem of corruption has been identified - the Central Anti-corruption Bureau has been established and the relevant services have increased their vigilance ... Simplifying administrative procedures will happen for sure."

Kaczyński also promised to improve the efficiency of the judicial system and reform the tax system but ruled out the possibility of introducing a flat tax. "Our government wants to lower taxes and simplify the tax system. It will be done step by step and not in a drastic way. However, there's no way Poland can afford to introduce a flat tax. This solution will not be adopted because, among other things, there's a need to improve the state," he said.

The President agreed with investors that one of Poland's major problems is the road infrastructure and announced that it is being addressed.

"A government road construction plan exists and there were plans to engage the private sector in the process, but they failed. EU funds will be used to improve the road infrastructure and the next 10 years should witness a major improvement," Kaczyński said.

He agreed that Poland will have to make a greater effort to attract FDI when the EU is further enlarged, and said that following the Czech example of expanding special economic zones is a possible model for Poland to follow.