∑ counties (by PLN 4.5 billion, 14.6%),
∑ voivodeships (by PLN 900 million, or an increase of 3.8% compared to the previous year, but the effect of the amendment of the Law will be PLN 3.65 billion, or 17.3%, which results from the effects of the current annual adjustments to the CIT quotas).
However, these are average values, and the project used different formulas and historical indicators, which resulted in different increases for similar local governments. This was drawn attention to by, among others: Andrzej Porawski from the Association of Polish Cities. He wrote: “We wondered about the differences in the effect for different, objectively similar local government units. For example, Chełm’s annual growth is only 11.7 percent year-on-year and 6.7 percent as an effect of the change, while for neighboring Zamość it is 20.3 percent, respectively. and 14.1 percent. Or a trio of former provincial cities that once renounced the status of a city with county rights: Ciechanów – 18.4 percent. and 7 percent, Piła – 24.8 percent. and 13 percent and Sieradz – 25.9 percent and 15.6 percent – these numerous doubts are the reason why local governments expect a calm and substantive assessment after a year. In their opinion, the new law is only the beginning of creating a system for stabilizing local government revenues, and not its entirety.
Experts also commented on changes in local government finances. Professor Jacek Sierak from SGH admitted in an interview with PAP that a good change is to reduce the importance of subsidies to own income. Currently, subsidies account for more than half of income, and from next year they will be less than a fifth. – A rational system of income equalization is needed, because local government units in Poland are diverse in terms of their socio-economic or economic base. They have different incomes and different spending needs, the economist says.
What is worth thinking about?
And Prof. Paweł Felis from SGH admitted that for now the project should be assessed with great caution because – as experience shows – it can be changed in parliament. Professor Felis is one of the authors of the analysis on the impact of tax reforms on the income of local government units in Central and Eastern European countries, published in the report of the Warsaw School of Economics and the Economic Forum. It shows that Poland stands out in the region: regulations are changed most frequently and the changes are the most serious.
