The Treasury Department IT Center in Radom was launched during Donald Tusk’s reign in 2012, but it turned out that only United Right governments could use it to seal up the tax system.
The creation of the National Tax Office, which unites the tax and customs authorities, the introduction of very high penalties for tax fraud, in particular VAT (with the famous “VAT crime”, punishable by up to 25 years in prison), and finally the creation of applications Krytyczne SA, taking advantage of market conditions, well-prepared IT specialists who can select taxpayers and transactions from more than 90% of the tax information that comes to the center for inspection. effectiveness are just some of the activities that have led to a significant tightening of the tax system.
All this was already achieved in the first year of government, hence the successive increase in tax revenue over the last 7 years, from all taxes that flow to the central budget.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Finance Minister Magdalena Rzeczkowska spoke about all this against the background of the aforementioned Center (which will be expanded later this year).
The effects of this tightening have been reflected in total tax revenues over the past 7 years, including revenues from the 4 most important taxes: PIT, CIT, VAT and excise duties. The data on the implementation of the 2022 budget (the implementation of the 2022 budget will be the subject of a debate at the next session of the Sejm in June), and the amount of revenue from the main types of taxes projected for 2023 and their comparison with the income from these taxes in 2015 should be something of an indictment against the then prevailing PO-PSL.
Let us remind you that PLN 286.3 billion of VAT revenues are planned in the 2023 budget, which means that they will be more than 132% higher than the revenue generated in 2015 (then they reached PLN 123.1 billion , ie more than twice as much as in 2015), moreover, they are at a similar level to total budget revenues in 2015 (then they amounted to PLN 289 billion).
In 2023, PIT revenues will be as much as PLN 78.4 billion, despite a significant reduction in the tax rate and a tenfold increase in the tax-free amount (in 2015 they were only PLN 45 billion, so they will still increase by about 74 %). , and from CIT will be as much as PLN 73.6 billion and compared to the performance of 2015 when they were only PLN 25.6 billion, the expected increase in this case is literally shocking as it was almost 3 times as much as in 2015).
Such high tax revenues from all taxes, despite the reductions in both PIT and CIT tax rates, as well as the introduction of anti-inflation shields, mainly VAT rates in 2022, show how effectively the tax system in Poland has been sealed during the 7 years of PiS rule.
This includes the VAT gap, which was 24.2 percent in 2015. potential revenue, it was reduced to 4.3 percent in 2021, which means an increase of PLN 47 billion in revenue from this tax more in 2021 conditions.
Despite the economic slowdown caused by the war beyond our eastern border, as well as many other problems caused, for example, by the destabilization of the energy market in Russia, the implementation of the 2022 budget and the 2023 budget is impressive, both in terms of the size of the budget revenue (more than twice that of 2015), as well as the size of the increase in expenditures for the implementation of the main functions of the state, related to social security, but also external and internal security.
Such a scaling of budget revenues during the 8 years of PiS rule, including tax revenues in particular, should contribute to an in-depth debate about what happened to tax revenues in 2008-2015, as they grew very slowly , and there were years when they actually decreased year after year.
After the magnitude of the increase in tax revenues in the years 2016-2023, it can be reassured that during the PO-PSL government at least one budget from that period of at least PLN 300 billion has disappeared and there is at least political approval obtained at the time given by the ruling coalition PO-PSL.
In this sense, the implementation of the 2022 budget, the 2023 budget is one big indictment against the PO-PSL coalition and the amount of budget revenue it receives from the 3 main taxes: VAT, PIT and CIT.
At the same time, as Prime Minister Morawiecki noted at yesterday’s conference in Radom, precisely because we have restored public finances, “we are not leaving Polish families in distress, which is why we are intervening financially in those areas of the economy and the social sphere where intervention is needed.”
Source: wPolityce

Emma Matthew is a political analyst for “Social Bites”. With a keen understanding of the inner workings of government and a passion for politics, she provides insightful and informative coverage of the latest political developments.