Minister Marian Banas, in a letter to the Finance Minister of the Republic of Finland, reiterated his request to step up legislative work on the European Commission's proposal to reform VAT rates. Earlier, the Minister raised this issue in his speech at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) 9 July 2019, on the priorities and work programme of the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Minister Banaś pointed out that the current VAT rules concerning VAT rates need to be amended to ensure that all Member States can apply reduced VAT rates equally.
The Minister pointed out that reduced VAT rates may play a significant role in the programming of the state's social policy, including, in particular, the family-friendly policy, which constitutes one from the key priorities of our government.
Thus, the amendment of the VAT Directive would allow even deeper support of Polish families by allowing Poland to apply preferential VAT rates to children's clothing and footwear.
Currently, only some Member States can benefit from the EU enlargement 2004 special derogation – apply reduced rates to such goods.