Abstract:

The main purpose of the paper is to compare the system of taxation and tax optimization in Poland with solutions in the selected EU Member States and its influence on economic development. The paper presents the system of taxation in Poland compared with fiscal solutions in selected EU countries. It also discusses the typology of tax solutions referring to tax optimization in Europe. Methodology. The author used the primary and secondary data from the Central Statistics Office (GUS), Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ research and the Eurostat. The research methods used for the purpose of data analysis included economic analysis of legal acts, descriptive statistics, and comparative analysis. Results showed that the level of tax loading in Poland is more moderate than in other developed countries of the world while the mechanism of administration of taxes and collections is much more successful. The share of receipts collected by the decentralized administration has been increasing steadily since the major administrative reform of 1999 and the local finance law enacted in 2004. Eliminating the category of special sections of industrial production and inclusion of revenues/income to the proposed form of income tax would be very desirable. This would indicate the practical implementation of Smith’s tax principles concerning tax equity and an ability of taxpayer to pay levies. Practical implications. Tax optimization is to balance the tax loading level through offering benefits and preferences which would stimulate the economy of the country and will not cause aggravation of the problem of relocating tax loading from one tax payer to another. Many national states, noticing the phenomena of tax evasion and tax avoidance are implementing or going to implement specific reforms which help to improve the system of tax control with the aim of creating conditions which make tax and collections evasion impossible. Value/originality. The results of the conducted research form the basis for drawing synthetic conclusions and making recommendations not only for Poland as for developing countries. Determining the most appropriate composition of government tax reforms in aspect of optimization remains an interesting issue for further research.

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