Mazowsze

19th March 2010

Warsaw City Council voted unanimously this week to challenge the so-called Robin Hood tax, intended to take from rich areas and give to the poor, in the Constitutional Tribunal. Under the ruling local taxes are garnered by the state and redistributed as it sees fit. Warsaw is top of the list of municipalities hit by the levy.

The amount clawed back by central government increases year on year and in 2010 is expected to amount to PLN 1 bln. The city’s councillors, in deciding to challenge the ruling, were at pains to stress that they did not want the tax abolished, merely that they wanted the rules to be redrawn.

The challenge was made by all three main political groupings, Civic Platform ...