The tax wedge in Poland in 2019 was slightly lower than the average of OECD member countries, and on average taxation of employment relationship over the past 20 years has fallen almost twice as much as the OECD average, according to the organization's report.

The tax wedge is the difference between the total cost of employing a full-time employee and the net salary he receives.

In its report, the OECD analyzes two models of a Polish employee: a single person and a working member of a family of four. According to OECD data, the tax wedge for the average single employee in 2019 in Poland fell by 0.2 percentage points to 35.6 percent. The average tax wedge at the OECD last year was 36 percent.

However, the Polish employee is more burdened with tax and contributions than his counterpart from the OECD group, where the employer pays most of the tribute. According to the report, in Poland, income tax and social security contributions paid by the employer last year accounted for a total of 57 percent of total tax wedge, compared with 76 percent the total OECD average tax wedge.

The tax wedge for an employee with children is on average lower than for a childless employee with the same income, as the vast majority of OECD countries provide social benefits and tax breaks for families with children. In this comparison Poland compares favorably with the OECD. In 2019, for an average employee married to two children, the tax wedge in Poland was 17.7 percent, with the OECD average of 26.4 percent.

(300gospodarka)