Customs should not be an independent authority

After the medical care staff, now the customs officers started protest actions against the government. While the medical care staff are mainly concerned with better pay, the customs officers protesting against the planned integration of the customs administration into a united financial management and tax administration.

According to the plans of the national-conservative PiS Government, all financial state authorities – the financial management, the financial control, tax investigation and customs – should be combined as of 1st January of the next year into one consolidated institution under the name National Tax Administration (KAS). The treasury hopes to combat fraud and tax crimes more efficiently, by combining them into one department. Presently, the structural units of the Polish financial administration work within a fragmented model, every unit has its own and independent information system, the databases are not co-ordinated with each other and there is no ongoing exchange of information.

The customs officers are against this plans and demand the maintenance of the customs administration as an independent structure unit. “The customs administration is like a hen that lays golden eggs” said the chairman of the customs’ officers union with reference to the fact that the customs officers generating 100 billion Złoty annual revenues.

The Polish customs administration employs over 14,500 staff throughout the country.

Source: ‘Wirtschafts-Markt Polen’, Issue 232