Moody's views suspension of Polish retail tax positive for Tesco and others

WARSAW, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The suspension of Poland's newretail tax by the European Commission is positive for Tesco, Carrefour, Kingfisher, Metro and Jeronimo Martins, which all operate inPoland, ratings agency Moody's said on Thursday.

"The European Commission did not question Poland's right todecide on its tax levels but insists that the tax system shouldrespect EU law," Moody's said in a statement.

"Accordingly, we believe that it is likely that a tax withflat-rate structure will eventually be introduced."

Moody's added that, over the medium term, it expects thecost of the tax largely to be passed on to consumers throughprice increases.

The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation onMonday into a new Polish progressive tax on the retail sectorthat it says may be discriminatory and ordered the suspension ofthe levy until the investigation has been concluded. (Reporting by Marcin Goettig; Editing by David Goodman)