ZUS bill stumbles through
A bill raising the obligatory social benefit tax (ZUS) has made its way to parliamentary commission, after opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) took the unusual move of not voting against it. The project, thought to be a non-starter a few days before, now has a significant chance of passing.
The government has prepared eight new ZUS levels. The bottom level is company owners earning more than zł.2,500 monthly, with those making more than zł.90,000 annually at the opposite end of the scale. The new legislation would see people in these categories paying zł.82 and zł.617 more per month respectively. In total, the raise is designed to fuel state budgets with an extra zł.500 million. The government has also prepared a two-year relief term for those setting up their own company. They would be obliged to pay just half of today's base ZUS level-zł.493 a month.
The current project is less strict than a version proposed last autumn. Nothing will change for the 70 percent of entrepreneurs who earn less than zł.2,500 per month. Members of the government argue that the present regulations provide entrepreneurs with irrational benefits, because they allow them to pay the lowest possible ZUS rate, regardless of how much they earn. Business circles say reaching into their pockets will hit the economy.
"Creating an opening in a small firm costs one-fifth of that in a large company," says Jeremi Mordasewicz, an economy expert with the Polish Confederation of Private Employers, and he believes the rise in ZUS will not help to increase employment. According to Richard Mbewe, chief economist with the Warsaw Investment Group, the SME sector accounts for 90 percent of the EU's GDP and is the most effective in fighting unemployment.
"Every group needs to participate in lowering the budget deficit," says the Undersecretary of State from the Ministry of Social Policy, Agnieszka Chłoń Domińczak. Anna Filek from the SLD argues that the next government will press even harder on entrepreneurs in order to repair the state finances. Economists say, however, that budget spending should be lowered, instead of raising revenues.
The government has prepared eight new ZUS levels. The bottom level is company owners earning more than zł.2,500 monthly, with those making more than zł.90,000 annually at the opposite end of the scale. The new legislation would see people in these categories paying zł.82 and zł.617 more per month respectively. In total, the raise is designed to fuel state budgets with an extra zł.500 million. The government has also prepared a two-year relief term for those setting up their own company. They would be obliged to pay just half of today's base ZUS level-zł.493 a month.
The current project is less strict than a version proposed last autumn. Nothing will change for the 70 percent of entrepreneurs who earn less than zł.2,500 per month. Members of the government argue that the present regulations provide entrepreneurs with irrational benefits, because they allow them to pay the lowest possible ZUS rate, regardless of how much they earn. Business circles say reaching into their pockets will hit the economy.
"Creating an opening in a small firm costs one-fifth of that in a large company," says Jeremi Mordasewicz, an economy expert with the Polish Confederation of Private Employers, and he believes the rise in ZUS will not help to increase employment. According to Richard Mbewe, chief economist with the Warsaw Investment Group, the SME sector accounts for 90 percent of the EU's GDP and is the most effective in fighting unemployment.
"Every group needs to participate in lowering the budget deficit," says the Undersecretary of State from the Ministry of Social Policy, Agnieszka Chłoń Domińczak. Anna Filek from the SLD argues that the next government will press even harder on entrepreneurs in order to repair the state finances. Economists say, however, that budget spending should be lowered, instead of raising revenues.
