Robert Biedron, leader of The Left party, said on Monday that a single parent filing a joint tax statement for themselves and their child should be able to benefit from double the amount of tax free allowance, just like in the case of two-parent families.
Mateusz Marek/PAP
An opposition leader has accused the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) of discriminating against single parents in its new tax law.
The Sejm, the lower house of parliament, passed an amendment to the personal income tax law last week which lowered the basic tax rate to 12 percent from 17 percent, and reintroduced a previously scrapped tax free allowance for both the single parent and their child.
However, the parent can benefit from the whole amount of the allowance, or PLN 30,000 (EUR 6,430), but their child only from half of it.
Robert Biedron, leader of The Left party, said on Monday that a single parent filing a joint tax statement for themselves and their child should be able to benefit from double the amount of tax free allowance, just like in the case of two-parent families.
At a press conference in the Sejm Biedron said that “PiS is discriminating against single parents,” most of whom are single mothers.
“Single mothers still struggle with a range of other issues, Poland still has problems with access to creches, kindergartens and day-care centres,” he said.
Danuta Zdunczyk, a member of the Single Parents Association, said that half a million single parents fill in joint tax filings with their children. “We’re discriminated against in taxation,” she said.
She argued that a two-parent family will not pay any tax on earnings of up to PLN 60,000 (EUR 12,460), while in the case of single-parent families the amount will be just PLN 45,000 (EUR 9,345).
Zdunczyk also said her association had filed a complaint about the new law with the European Court of Human Rights.
Biedron, who heads the European Parliament’s committee on women’s rights and gender equality, said his committee would deal with the issue too.