President Karol Nawrocki sent the Constitutional Court a taxation bill on the extraordinary profits of fuel companies alternatively of signing it. The 60 percent taxation was to cover the profits of the companies from fuel sales from March to December 2026 and bring the budget about PLN 4 billion. The head of state considered that the bill was retroactive and violates the rule of legal certainty and that an additional taxation would be passed on to drivers anyway. The government responded harshly. Prime Minister Donald Tusk coined a slogan on Tuesday about the "prices of Karol Nawrocki" and charged the president with work for what Poles will see on stations.
The president chose the Court alternatively of signing
The decision was made on July 24. Karol Nawrocki did not veto the bill, but sent it to the Constitutional Court in the preventive control procedure. This is about the passed on 3 July 2026 of the taxation Act on Exceptional Profits achieved from March to December 2026 from the Disposal of Liquid Fuels. The rules supply for a rate of up to 60 percent, calculated from the excess gross over the alleged mention margin. According to estimates by the government, the danin was to fund the budget with about PLN 4 billion, most of which were inactive this year.
Allegation: law acting retroactively
The President's office has laid out the reasons for this decision. The most crucial thing is retroactivity. The Act is due to enter into force in August, but covers gross already generated since the beginning of March. "In a democratic legal state, the citizen and the entrepreneur must know what rules apply at the time of the decision," argued the President. He besides pointed to the pace of work on taxation law and the hazard of unequal treatment of entrepreneurs. According to Nawrocki, the Court should decide whether the State can set specified a precedent for the future. The head of state besides warned that the fresh tribute could be transferred to the station's customers. "The consequence will be another wave of increases," he argued, proving that budget fixing could not be presented reliably as driver protection.
“We had CPN and we got CKN”
The government's answer was fast and personal. Prime Minister Donald Tusk considered the suspension of the bill as a blow against Polish drivers and reached for the word game. “We had CPN, Fuel Prices lower, and Nawrocki gave us CKN, Karol Nawrocki’s Prices”, said the head of the government, and then appealed, “Remember this at the distributors.” Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski added that the president blocked another 4 billion zlotys, which were to go into the budget and finance cheaper refueling.
What's truly going on?
The corp taxation was not created in vacuum. The backing of the government's "Prices of Fuels Under" programme was to be closed, which reduced VAT on fuel to 8 percent from the end of March, and excise work was reduced to the EU minimum. The shield cost a budget of nearly PLN 4.7 billion, and the tribute from extraordinary profits was to partially patch this tear. Without these influences, the government must search another origin of money. The Deputy Ministers Konrad Wojnarowski and Wojciech Wrochna announced that the resorts are analyzing possible emergency solutions for August.
Driver between the president and the Government
In this dispute 2 real rations collide. The prohibition of retroactive action is 1 of the pillars of the constitutional order, and the entrepreneur has the right to know the rules erstwhile he makes decisions. On the another hand, the company's evidence profits in a period of advanced fuel prices are a fact and the state has tools to take over any of them. The decision now belongs to the Constitutional Court, and its judgement will set the limits within which the government may apply for extraordinary taxes. Until then, the biggest unknown remains the wallet of the average driver, who in the political dispute by PLN 4 billion is simply a stake alternatively than a party.
Source: Bankier.pl
