Nobody will tell us what taxes we can and cannot introduce – said Magdalena Biejat, the New Left's candidate for president, in Rzeszów on Tuesday. She referred to the words of Tom Rose, the US ambassador-designate, on the subject of the digital tax.
Following the announcement by Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski that in the coming months he will present a model of a digital tax on the revenues or profits of big tech in Poland, Rose wrote on the X website: “This is not very smart! A self-destructive tax that will only harm Poland and its relations with the US. President Trump will also retaliate, as he should. Cancel the tax to avoid consequences!”
Biejat stated that the future ambassador began to threaten Poland. “I would like to say very strongly: Poland is not anyone's colony, no one will tell us what taxes we can introduce and which we cannot,” the presidential candidate emphasized.
She pointed out that this digital tax is not aimed at the US or anyone else, “it is just a normal solution” that many European countries and Canada have introduced, and it serves “simple social justice and redistribution of resources”.
Biejat pointed out that all large corporations, both American, Chinese, and European, generate profits in Poland, so they should also contribute to public money, to the better functioning of our country. She added that this tax is necessary and should have been introduced long ago to gain money for the development of Polish technologies, to support Polish traditional media.
The presidential candidate recalled that the Left had already fought for such a tax in the previous term, but – as she stated – then Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki withdrew under pressure from lobbyists. Biejat assured that the Left will fight for this tax to be introduced.
The Minister of Digital Affairs, referring to Rose's words on Tuesday on Radio Zet o, said, among other things, that “the time when any country, even a superpower, believes that someone will be in some way a fief of another country, is over”. Gawkowski assured that the ministry does not intend to withdraw from work on introducing a digital tax. He stated that “large corporations, not only American, but also global ones, are making money on Poland and other countries” and pointed out that a digital tax has been introduced by, among others, Spain, France, Great Britain and Austria. (PAP)
api/ wet/
