SUPPLEMENTARY PARENTAL BENEFIT – THE MUM 4 + PROGRAMME – EXPECTATIONS AND REALITY

In this article the regulations of the act on parental supplementary benefit of January 30, 2019 are thoroughly analysed. Supplementary parental benefit is granted to a person who gave birth to and raised or only raised at least four children and did not acquire the right to a pension or a pension paid to this person by the pension authority is smaller than the lowest pension. One is entitled to the benefit mentioned herein only in the case of not having means of subsistence because of not pursuing or discontinuing employment as a result of raising minimum four children. Supplementary parental benefit is in no way related to making social security contributions, it is a benefit financed by the state budget, which in a supplementary or substitutional way is linked to old age. In the legal sense, it is not a pension, but a special non-contributory monetary benefit of discretionary nature, which is granted only on request of the person of interest based on the administrative decision of the president of the Polish Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) or the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund (KRUS).

Directions For Reconstruction of the Tax System in Poland – a Growth‑Enhancing Proposal

The paper aims to present directions for the growth‑enhancing reconstruction of the tax system in Poland. It presents a diagnosis of the main strengths and weaknesses of that system. Based on this diagnosis and a review of the literature, the authors propose a package of recommendations whose introduction would be conducive to economic growth. The recommendations include: shifting the burden of taxation from income, in particular low labour income, to consumption; exempting low earners from a part of social security contributions; the introduction of the possibility for local governments to increase the PIT‑free allowance above the centrally set base amount; the unification of the basis for the PIT, National Health Fund and Social Insurance Institution contributions; the elimination of differences in contributions for different types of contracts on the basis of which work is performed; the extension of one‑off amortisation to all machine investments; and the elimination of sectoral taxes.