Legal and administrative barriers to business in Poland in the light of the opinions of entrepreneurs and the ‘Doing Business’ reports

Abstract

One of the factors improving the competitiveness of factories and small business is, among others,legal security. This is represented by stability and cohesiveness of the tax system. Legislature mustensure that taxpayers are aware of their rights and duties, before tax is applicable. Entities coveredby the tax system must be certain that the stability of the tax law is protected, and that their interestsare secured as well. Hence, the result should take form of a basic principle of stability of law, which applies not only to tax regulations, but also to other legal areas. Law governing the powers and dutiesis primarily dependent on the changing political, social and economic situations. This article attemptsto identify the most important barriers, indicated by businessmen, and various institutions, including the World Bank. The article also contains a summary of ratings received by the Polish tax legislation system, provided by World Bank experts, and, perhaps more importantly, by Polish entrepreneurs.Annual reports of the World Bank, and the ‘Doing Business’ surveys present the situation of Polishentrepreneurs in the field of tax legislation and may serve as an excellent source for identifying weaknesses in the tax system and possibilities for its improvement. This study focuses in particularon the tax system, as the one which can positively or negatively affect the economy, and developmentof entrepreneurship.