Ministry of Finance and Tax Control from 2014 conducts an information campaign "Don't Be Made a Pole". The campaign is aimed primarily at young people taking up or about to take up their own first employment. Its primary objective is to raise awareness of the threat of organised crime groups, education of young people in the field of the recognition of criminal activity.
Admittedly, this sounds more like an incentive to report to yourself than an incentive to contact a person in a difficult situation.
The dedicated website www.slupczyoszust.pl shows that campaign organizers are setting themselves a worthy message of the goal of preventing young people from becoming more or less aware of their involvement in criminal activities at the threshold of their professional career.
The authors of this website, after explaining the motives of their activities, begin to intimidate the reader by suggesting that if he turns on his mind he will lose his freedom, respect, being his own and his family, property, opportunity for a normal life and work. Then presented two school examples of typical tax fraud victims of economics student and entrepreneur operating an electronic equipment warehouse.
There was also a short television spot depicting the injured person as a result of his involvement in the tax penalty. http://www.slupczyoszust.pl/index.php/materialy-edukacyjne/spot-telewizyjny
Then the problem is discussed, or part of the portal entitled “What is a carousel crime?” It consists of several statements by the press agents of the Office of Tax Control. These statements are factual and quite general.
The rest of the portal is news in which the Ministry of Finance informs taxpayers what actions are being taken to combat organised crime. And these actions are:
- • competition for students for a film on tax illusions;
- • a judgment in Lublin maintaining a tax decision defining a tax liability in the VAT of the Polish company;
- • the elimination of illegal domestic tobacco;
There is also information about organized lectures and conferences, which are being held more and more. These are mostly events at universities but interesting initiatives include lectures for participants of Studies third Age.
It is difficult not to get the impression that from the start of the action, whose initial aim was to protect vulnerable taxpayers from going down the wrong path of economic crime, its current shape is somewhat different. The portal is primarily used as an information channel of the MF and Tax Control to publish news about current activities: detentions, court sentences that retain dimensional decisions, etc.
This activity should be assessed positively, since making public information on the effectiveness of actions to combat economic crime is justified as much as possible, and this may fulfil an important preventive role.
The question remains, how successful have the initial assumptions been, have they actually been successful in this field? Unfortunately, there are no tools to allow a credible examination of such real effects.
However, the actions under discussion on combating organised crime highlight a slightly different but serious problem. There is no doubt that the activity of Tax Control in recent years has increased.
On the basis of observations by our lawyers of tax, control and tax proceedings, those representing tax authorities are increasingly well prepared for their role. Often already at the stage of the investigation into a case where the participation of the defender is not possible, very detailed hearings are being conducted.
The problem is that a person who appears at this stage often still as a witness, without a defender, can provide a lot of information, which serves not only to reveal the organizers of the criminal process, but also (and sometimes above all) to provide evidence to allow him to make adverse decisions.
It is often only after consulting lawyers that the de facto victim learns what the charges against him and only then learns how to defend himself against them. Unfortunately, it is often too late at this stage - with previously submitted statements and explanations it is difficult to discuss at further stages.
The question therefore needs to be asked whether the ‘slut or impostor’ action aimed at protecting those who are unconsciously involved in carousel crimes actually fulfils their purpose, since decisions are made on such persons which determine tax obligations and criminal-tax proceedings are conducted?
Unfortunately, on the website www.slupczyoszust.pl we will not find any information on how to behave when the involvement of the “slut” in an organized crime group is already revealed. The rhetoric of the entire campaign may lead the audience to an unopposed conclusion: “If I got caught in a tax carousel, that means I will become a criminal.” At the same time, the author of the portal encourages contact, stating: “If you have a legitimate concern about participating in an organized group, please inform the IRS immediately, at kontrola.skarbowa@mf.gov.pl or law enforcement authorities’.
Admittedly, this sounds more like an incentive to report to yourself than an incentive to contact a person in a difficult situation.
We will continue to follow the activities of the MF and Tax Control in the fight against organised crime, particularly in view of the situation of those who may actually be victims of such criminal activities.