Poland's post-election political scene

Exactly. Plus it's not just the money, it's the support and mentoring which Poland has benefitted from, also the pressure exerted by the EU to actually get on with things. Oherwise years would go by with no progress on things like building motorways, as there would be so much bickering and faffing about.

Care to give some statistics. OK, at least estimates. No-one is saying there are no such cases, but they are rarer than hen's teeth. Bureaucracy being what it is makes it nearyl impossible to achieve anything strictly according to the rulebook. And not only in Poland or otehr ex-Soviet bloc countries.

Reminds me of that 1992 police-file session in the Sejm. Always the card, Korwin stood up and said: "Would all those MPs who had been SB snitches please raise their hands!" Naturally he brought the house down with laughter. Those who find ways of evading taxes, for instance by paying them in tax havens at a reduced rate, juggling their books or whatever, rarely if ever brag about it.

No, but if they are Sp z o o or SA, they have to file their accounts with the KRS, so the data on their effective tax rates is publicly available. Are there any cases of tax evasion by a multinational on the scale that you suggest ? I follow tax news quite closely and tag only real example I can think of is Zywiec.

I don't believe using offshore tax havens is illegal but it certainly is unethical and not fair to the Polish people. The ordinary Jan Nowak or Wojciech Kowalski gets called in for the slightest oversight in his tax forms. Mega-corporations have batteries of clever lawyers and myriad other ways (including hefty bribes) to deal with tax and other issues. The common view about Polish legitimate mutli-millionaire busienssmen is that they stole their first million.

So, if you're so concerned about the Polish people - why aren't you standing up against PiS for closing hospitals and ambulance stations while ordering hugely expensive and unneeded VIP planes? Oh, and why has the person that boasted about cancelling the helicopter deal now vanished back to the US, where he bought some property that was way beyond his means with a loan from Boeing?

natemat.pl/207747,se-macierewicz-dostal-od-szydlo-ponad-30-tys-zl-nagrod-wiecej-od-innych-ministrow-internet-docieka-za-co

Oh, and why aren't you concerned about Macierewicz getting a bonus of 30,000zł? Many Poles don't even earn 30,000zł a year!

natemat.pl/207735,juz-wiadomo-ile-misiewicz-zarabial-w-mon-jednak-kownacki-nie-ujawnil-jego-zarobkow-w-panstwowych-spolkach

Oh, and what about Misiewicz getting over 10,000zł a month from the Ministry of Defence despite having zero qualifications or experience?

Plus his 'special advisors', especially that young one with the pudding basin haircut.

Didn't his father also get money from the MON for some reason?

You sound jealous?!

Of working for the clown Macierewicz, the worst defence minister Poland has ever had? No thanks.

When Macierewicz appears next to te one with the hair, they always remind me of Dr. Who and his assistant, Adric.


Yet another issue that will doubtless come out after the election.

warpedfactor.com/2014/11/doctor-who-companion-pieces-adric.html
Macierewicz and special assistant

It's already well and truly out.

The disturbing thing is watching Kukiz's silence over the whole thing. Anti-system my ass.

After the election Tusk will be behind bars. If stupidity is a punishable offence then, Schetyna too. Maybe the scamster duo of Mr & Mrs P hired yong Tusk for their dodgy OLT airline because of his high IQ and superior skills? No, because having the PM's son on their side was good for their shady business. Or so they thought. After Tusk's immunity expires, he will be held accountable for the biggest scandal in III RP history -- the great AmberGold/OLT affair.

Behind bullet proof glass in the back of the presidential limousine, maybe. Not least because he'd certainly win if there was an election today, and this is only likely to change even more in his favour.


He knows that anything Andy everything that comes out when he opens his mouth lowers his support.

Because harping on local incidents sounds a lot like your broken-record guru banging on about how Poland is not a Catholic country because every single Pole does not attend mass every single Sundeay. His obsessive-compulsive syndrome seems to have affected your thinking.

Most important is not some local issue, a school closure in the boonies, or which brand of helicopter is best -- that does not affect Jan Kowalski's daiłly life, his home and family in the least. What's important is the big picture, the broad programme of good changes that have been taking place for the past 19 months. Especiaqlly when contfratsed with PO's zero programme. Schetyna can't even get his party's act together. He has shown on TV saying: "We do not want any refugees." At the same time Kopacz said she favours accepting them.

Latest poll by Kantar Public:

PiS: 28%
PO: 27%
Kukiz'15: 10%
Nowoczesna: 5%

It is, to all practical extents, equal.

Except there is no election today. If Donny Boy keeps up with his anti-Polish tirades and backs those wanting to punish Poland, more and more decent Poles will turn against him. Maybe PO's notorious wristwatchman Nowak will appoint him to some post on Ukrainian State Railways.

Except as all the polls show, they've been turning *to* him.

Polly, I'll ask again: why is it so hard for you to accept that some elements of PiS are electoral poison? PiS are struggling to pull clear of PO because they can't deal with Macierewicz and the corruption scandal of the decade (reminder: A Boeing lobbyist was responsible for Poland cancelling a badly needed military helicopter order and replacing it with an order for VIP planes for the government - the same lobbyist fled Poland as soon as the deal was signed).

No wonder you take your cues from the Selective Gazette (Gazeta Wybiórzca).
You also engage in selective reporting. Funny you didn't mention the poll of only two days ago showing: PiS - 35 proc -- PO - 27.

We can also expect you to remain silent when it'll be 34-25, 38-29 or 39-30. But when another fluke occurs, for instance 36-34, old Delph will be enthusiastically shouting "Almost neck and neck!"

Behind bullet-proof glass in a courtroom enclosure to protect against lynchings.

Given that he's currently the most popular politician in Poland and one of the world's greatest living Poles, after Lech Wałęsa and Adam Michnik, I seriously doubt the veracity of your comment.

jon is clearly trolling, he just waits for your reaction and laughs at it. Not sure why you guys waste your time feeding him.


That one gave me a good chuckle though :-)

Great news that in the latest opinion poll for the next presidential election, Tusk is ahead of Duda once more. Good change on the way!

wiadomosci.wp.pl/sondaz-donald-tusk-wygrywa-z-andrzejem-duda-6105224218203265a

@Polonius3
I agree that it's immoral to evade tax. My question is whether that is hapenning in the case of the foreign investors you are haranguing ? It would make little sense to export profits - France, Germany, Italy and Holland all have higher tax rates and the U.K. Is the same as Poland. The main users of tax ruses are Polish owned businesses.

Any evidence that foreign investors bribe tax inspectors ? I think they are far less likely to do so than a local business owner. Most of their managers are here to earn a few bob, get some experience and have fun - committing serious crimes is more than their job is worth.

It's also wrong that small tax payers have more inspections - the US obviously spends more time and resource looking at big amounts and many large foreign investors have 5-10 controls per year. In sensitive sectors like banking, brewing, retail there is more or less a permanent onsite presence.

It's a tiresome myth that EU membership is not benefiting the Polish economy.

you never heard of Luxleaks scandal - the leaked documents state that Poland (among many other countries) loses 10 billion euro in taxes because companies transfer income to their Luxembourg seats or branches where they pay preferential rates of tax (like 3 per cent) - read more man

it's not only Luxembourg that allows corporations to evade tax - as you would probably believe Wyborcza here's some wyborcza for you -

wyborcza.biz/biznes/1,147582,16957216,Luksemburg_nie_jest_jedyny__Korporacje_unikaja_opodatkowania.html?disableRedirects=true

yearly

But if you read the EU's analysis of the tax situation in the various member states, you will see that tax revenues have continued to rise year on year and that most member states have been reducing their rate of corporate tax and the single largest source of revenue throughout the EU comes from labour. One has to be realistic. Countries want to attract investment so they try to make their tax rates competitive. At the very least foreign investors provide jobs which result in tax revenue from the workers and more money in the economy from those workers spending their wages. Polly is depicting Poland as a poor victim being bled dry and robbed by 'foreigners' whilst being thrown a few crumbs from the EU banqueting table. But up to this point, Poland has gained far more than it's lost from their membership of the EU.

Anyway, regarding Luxembourg, this situation exists because the World Bank or whoever, wanted it obviously. Are people really that stupid that they think these things just 'happen' when nobody is looking?? It's collusion between various governments and financial institutions in order to increase wealth and stability in developed countries and as usual the USA is heavily involved. The pie is shared out in various ways and everyone is basically happy. It's been going on for decades and it's the way the world works. It won't change. By the way Ireland is far worse than Luxembourg, a corporate tax transfer rate of .005%!! Of course they've been told by the EU that they have to recover 13 billion from Google and are refusing to do it as they say a country's tax affairs are its own business. Case is still ongoing.

Apparently your notion of heroes runs to communist-police snitches and RT conspirators. Each to their own!

Wow! A "lead" of two tenths of one percent -- very impressiver indeed! Reminbds one of the surveys preceding the 2005 and 2015 presidential elections where the leads were somewhat greater. The hopeless, clueless and deseprate have always been known to clutch at straws. But bark and yap away to your heart's content, as the good-change caravan moves slowly but surely forward.

A major drop form the 50-45 figures produced by an April survey. In other words, Tusk's then 5-point fluke has withered to nearly zero. The desperate and clueless get an orgasm at the slightest computer blip.

@gumishu
The numbers concerning Poland are far less than 10bn yearly - that would be more than twice the annual take from corporate income tax.

There were about 20 companies on the list, and the biggest transgressors were Polish businesses - CCC and Sowolow. Most of the rest were real estate developers who, like internet companies, seem to make tax evasion part of their business model.

Absolutely definitively the tax evasion by EU investors is dwarfed by the receipts from EU membership. The Brits thought they would be better off outside the EU but they are having to borrow huge amounts to make up for a tax shortfall and the govt is running a mile from their promise of spending the resulting savings on healthcare.