Sejm adopts banking tax

The lower chamber of parliament, the Sejm, has passed the law on taxing banks' and insurers' assets having approved most of the Senate changes. The key change put forward by the Senate applies the law to whole capital groups, preventing insurers from artificially splitting the companies to avoid paying the tax. The bill imposes a tax of 0.44 percent on bank assets over PLN 4 bln, excluding T-papers, and the same tax on insurer assets over PLN 2 bln. Poland budgeted PLN 5.5 bln in revenues from the tax.