Tax system changes included in economic reform plan to be approved today

Prime Minister Leszek Miller has announced that today his Cabinet will approve the long-awaited economic reform plan. According to Finance Minister Marek Belka, the plan will keep Poland on a clear path toward European Union (EU) accession, avert the threat of a public finance crisis, and cut unemployment from the current 17.4%. The plan includes changes in the tax system, and aims at stimulating entrepreneurship, which is currently hindered by bureaucracy and the tax system. "Of course the program will be criticized. It will not be ideal, but everyone must admit it is coherent and forward looking," Belka told Reuters. Poland now faces a challenge in reforming its public finances in order to find funding for EU related projects. If it fails to do so it may lose EU cash or enter a borrowing spiral, which may eventually lead to deeper economic problems. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 1; Rzeczpospolita, p. A4; Zycie, p. 1; Reuters) M.T.K.