The New York Times, March 26, 1992:

For the first time, Poland is trying to impose a western-style personal income tax... and it is turning to the Internal Revenue Service in Washington for help...

Two veteran American tax experts took time out earlier this month to provide a round of basic training to 25 of their newly appointed counterparts in Poland...

At the training course, Polish tax inspectors marveled at the possibilities for obtaining data in an information-rich environment like America. In Poland, they said, permission to rummage through a taxpayer's personal bank accounts is rarely granted by the Finance Ministry...

Zygmunt Sachnowski, national director of the fiscal police, contends that the recently passed law setting up the personal income tax leans too far in the direction of protecting citizens' rights...

[IRS agent George F.] Blair also noted that in the United States, the authorities had the power to pursue an individual for failing to pay taxes on illegal income. Such powers have not yet been granted to Polish revenue officers.

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