The taxation powers of municipalities in Poland and fire protection – an outline of the issues based on property tax exemptions

Abstract

As a part of their fiscal sovereignty, municipalities in Poland may introduce exemptions from property tax, the most efficient of the currently existing local taxes. Exemptions introduced to legal transactions through the resolutions of commune councils are valid only in the commune which adopted the relevant resolution. The authors analysed the resolutions adopted in 2017 by communes located in two provinces. They established that the communes apply exemptions to numerous objects of taxation, and at the forefront of the exemptions are undoubtedly the exemptions for subjects of taxation related to fire protection. The authors found that municipalities achieve the same objective, i.e. the exemption of the subject of taxation related to fire protection, using various wordings of their resolutions. This leads to the conclusion that the exemption of property in connection with fire protection should constitute a statutory exemption, i.e. binding in the territory of all communes in Poland.

Keywords

• commune
• taxes
• property tax
• tax exemptions
• taxation powers