Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin has criticised the government’s flagship economic package, the “Polish Deal”, saying it will “hit millions of hard-working Poles” through plans for more progressive taxation.
But the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has defended the plan as part of efforts to promote it, calling it a means of achieving a “welfare state” and “European standard of living” in Poland.
The Polish Deal includes bold spending promises on social benefits and infrastructure investment, as well as plans to lessen the tax burden on 18 million lower-paid Poles. Part of the costs will be shouldered by increased contributions from top earners and some businesses.
“The proposals of the Ministry of Finance hit millions of hard-working Poles,” said Gowin, who, as well as being a deputy prime minister, also serves as development minister and is the leader of the Agreement (Porozumienie) party, a junior partner in the ruling coalition that is generally seen as more pro-business.
The proposals “mean that the rich will not be the ones paying the high taxes – which we would be willing to accept – but millions of Poles,” he told Polsat News.
Morawiecki has previously argued that Poland’s current tax system is “unfair” because “the rich use our roads and schools” but “do not pay [an amount] appropriate to their earnings”.
Gowin said that his party would accept a tax increase “only” for those earning more than 13,000 zloty (€2,830). He also noted that he believed entrepreneurs ought to be eligible for the planned increase in the tax-free income allowance to 30,000 zloty (€6,530), up from the current threshold of 3,091 zloty (€673).
The ruling coalition has been beset by internal conflicts over the last year. But despite his criticism of the Polish Deal, Gowin said that his party had no intention of leaving the coalition as they had an “obligation” towards voters.
Since the Polish Deal was unveiled in May, the prime minister and his government colleagues have been promoting it on a tour of Poland. As part of these efforts, on Saturday Morawiecki published a letter in Super Express, the country’s largest tabloid, laying out the government’s plans to implement the key economic programmes at the start of next year.
“The Polish Deal is our way to build a welfare state,” he wrote. He added that the package would put Poland on its “path to the European standard of living” and give it a “chance for civilisation promotion to the first European league”.
Main image credit: Krystian Maj/KPRM/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
