(Bloomberg) -- Poland’s government pledged to use revenue from a new retail tax to increase payments to people with disabilities, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at the ruling party’s election rally in Krakow on Sunday.
Poland may be able to collect about 2 billion zloty ($518 million) annually from retail chains, after winning a ruling this week in the European Union’s General Court. The Law & Justice government, which pledged about 40 billion zloty in additional spending earlier this year, is using the unexpected court victory to boost social transfers before the European Parliament vote.
Disabled people, who along with caregivers protested last year for better benefits, will now get a monthly payments of about 500 zloty, Morawiecki said. The levy will probably take effect next year as it may be appealed, he said.
Law & Justice is trying to win votes with promises to keep immigrants away from Poland’s borders and to resist claims for restitution related to properties that were confiscated by the Nazis and later by the Communists. The opposition European Coalition, which gathered tens of thousands of people at a rally in Warsaw on Saturday, argues the ruling party endangers Poland’s position in the EU.
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