Sly Santa’s Report is an interactive project, in which WEI calculates how much we have paid for gifts from the state. We don’t know where Santa Claus gets the money for gifts. We do know where the government gets the money for gifts for voters – from their own pockets.

The aim of the report is to increase the economic awareness of Poles, which is at an unsatisfactory level. According to a study conducted in 2017 for the website ciekaweliczby.pl, only less than 40 percent of us are aware that the source of funding for programs such as 500+ is taxes that they also pay, not e.g. neighbors or supporters of other parties. We want to show that budget deficits and public debt are not only abstract economic concepts, but also real problems that are devastating our wallets. This is particularly important during a pandemic, as Poland records a strong increase in its debt to GDP ratio, and this will create pressure to increase taxes in the coming years. The government has no money of its own and there is no such thing as free lunches.