Rostowski not planning to raise taxes

Jacek Rostowski. Photo: Polish Radio/Wojciech Kusinski

“I don't foresee the necessity of raising taxes,” Rostowski told Polish Radio today.

Nevertheless, Rostowski noted that there are some increases that are mandatory in the EU, “on cigarettes and things like that,” but he insisted that “we always keep these to a minimum.”

However, he stressed that “a responsible politician” should react to a situation “as it arises.”

Rostowski's comments come in the wake of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's announcement on Tuesday that in August, the government will put forward a draft amendment to the 2013 budget, calling for spending to be cut by 8.5 billion zloty (2 billion euro), and outlining that this year's budget deficit will be increased by 16 billion zloty (3.7 billion euro).

When asked why the government had been wide of the mark on its earlier forecasts, Rostowski argued that “in many countries, these amendments are made several times a year.”

He added that in October, the government had not ruled out the possibility of a later amendment as “we knew that Western Europe and particularly the euro zone was experiencing severe turbulence, and we did not know at what point these problems would start to be sorted out.

“According to forecasts of the European Central Bank, this was supposed to start at the beginning of the second half of this year... but now it has turned out that it looks a lot less likely to.” (nh)