Poland's lower chamber approves bank tax bill
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
30.12.2015 18:58
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Poland's lower chamber approves bank tax bill
On Tuesday, Poland's lower chamber of parliament, the Sejm, approved a bank tax bill that imposes a contribution of 0.0366 percent of lenders' assets per month, excluding government bonds.
The lower house of Polish parliament. Photo: Lukas Plewnia
The bill was proposed by the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party.
As Michał Owczarek reports, the government plans to use the money collected under the levy to finance its social spending agenda.
It has claimed that over EUR 1 billion a year will thus be raised, which will help fund projects such as newly-announced child benefit payments and lowering the retirement age.
“To evade this tax, banks would have to freeze their credit lines, which is impossible as this is their major money maker,” says Wiktor Patena of the Association of Polish Economists.