ZUS proposes to collect more from top earners, pension reform experts outraged

The Social Insurance Company (ZUS) wants to change current regulations under which people only pay social security premiums up until the moment when their income reaches 30 times the average monthly salary. Under the changes proposed they would be obliged to pay premiums on all of their income, yielding some zl.3 billion more for ZUS. The plans caused outrage among pension reform experts. Andrzej S. Bratkowski from the CASE foundation said: "ZUS's idea is scandalous. Most of all because it ruins the credibility of the pension system. If some regulations are introduced, they cannot be immediately changed. If ZUS now wants to change regulations on premiums, maybe in the future it will want to change the way in which pensions are paid out." World Bank expert Michal Rutkowski said that most pension systems around the world also only charge premiums up to a certain limit. (Rzeczpospolita, p.A4) J.K.