Under a tax bill drafted as part of the ruling conservatives’ flagship Polish New Deal programme, a total of PLN 8 billion (around EUR 1.7 billion, USD 2 billion) will remain in the taxpayers' pockets, while 9 million people will cease to pay personal income tax altogether, Finance Minister Tadeusz Kościński told reporters on Monday.
The tax-free allowance will rise from PLN 8,000 to PLN 30,000, he announced.
The government estimates that 67 percent of Poles—18 million people in total, including 90 percent of pensioners—will benefit from the reform.
Meanwhile, around a fifth of the population will be unaffected by the changes, while the wealthiest 13 percent are set to pay higher taxes, according to officials.
Kościński said the reform "should be treated as an investment" that will enable "our economy to grow fast after the pandemic."
A drop in revenues will eventually be counterbalanced by “a tightening-up of the tax system,” he told a news conference.
Under the bill, which is expected to come into effect with the new year, those on minimum salary will stop paying tax, according to finance ministry officials, while the burden will ease for those earning up to PLN 5,700 a month gross, as well as for those on between PLN 11,100 and 12,800 gross—because of an adjustment in the tax brackets.
Those earning more, from Supreme Court justices to elite footballers, will see their taxes rise, officials said.
Notably, two-thirds of pensioners will cease to pay tax, and 45 percent of entrepreneurs also stand to gain from the reform, as are doctors, nurses, engineers and IT specialists, among others, according to the Polish finance ministry.
In addition, all taxpayers will be subject to the same health-insurance rate of 9 percent, as "entrepreneurs can't be paying less than employees," Kościński emphasised.
The governing conservative party’s ambitious Polish New Deal economic programme, unveiled in May, aims to boost the economy after the pandemic, plough more money into public healthcare and education, and give parents extra social benefits.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP