Poland had 24.65 million personal income tax payers in 2011, a figure lower by 253,500 persons compared to 2010, the daily Rzeczpospolita reports.

The daily lists the falling number of pensioners, entrepreneurs' switching to more favorable forms of taxation and transfers to the grey economy as possible explanations for the decline.

The declining number of PIT payers may be a result of an increasing fiscalism of the state, according to Adam Smith think-tank Adam Sadowski.