The necessity for high legislative standards for real estate tax in the light of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal’s jurisprudence
The necessity for high legislative standards for real estate tax in the light of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal’s jurisprudence

Summary/Abstract: Objectives:Paper analyses the Constitution of the Republic of Poland’s limits for restricting the legislature that requires high legislative standards in area of real estate tax.Material and methods:The analysis is based on the Constitutional Tribunal’s jurisprudence in the field of real estate tax that is primarily connected with taxation of entrepreneurs’ real estate. The method of dogmatic and legal analysis was used.Results:The analysis of the case law of the Constitutional Tribunal concerning the assessment of real estate tax regulations allows the conclusion that the judgments concerned the two most significant practical problems (i.e., taxation of buildings and real estate connected with business activity). In almost every case the Constitutional Tribunal found the Act on Local Taxes and Fees provisions to be at least far from the standards that should be expected from tax regulations.Conclusions:The source of the all legal problems is not only historical (i.e., from defective regulation of these issues 20 years ago). It seems that the current legislators are still resistant to proposals concerning profound legislative changes, including those indicated as necessary by the Constitutional Tribunal, the Supreme Administrative Court and the doctrine. A further problem is that the cascading definitions of terms using non-tax laws and the phenomenon of so-called unconscious tax legislation, which definitely affect the negative assessment of regulations, seem to be intensifying. This is evident in the recent changes in the scope of tax exemptions for railroad infrastructure or the taxation of windmills. It should also be pointed out that the authors of the proposals for legislative changes and the legislators in the background should at least take into account that tax revenue is the income of the community budget.

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