Sixty percent of extraordinary profits, about PLN 4 billion for the budget and counting since March. This was a tribute from fuel companies, which president Karol Nawrocki did not sign and mention to the Constitutional Court. The government is not laying down weapons. alternatively of a one-off tax, he is already reasoning about a permanent solution, modelled on a bank tribute.
Danina, who didn't make it.
The bill passed in early July assumed a taxation of 60 percent on extraordinary profits from the sale of liquid fuels. The mention point was to be the average margin of 2025 plus 1 fifth. Everything above this threshold the state wanted to take. The government afraid twenty-five fuel-producing, importing or trading entities, with a national concern at the head. Danina covered the period from March to December 2026 and was to enter into force in August. The budget expected about PLN 4 billion from it, most of which inactive this year. The money was to fix the failure after VAT reductions and excise duties on fuel.
The president is betting on the constitution
Karol Nawrocki refused his signature on Friday 24 July and sent the bill back to the Constitutional Court under preventive control. The charges are procedural and systemic. The most crucial is the law of the reverse: the provisions of August would scope for profits counted since March. The president besides pointed to the mode of adoption and unequal treatment, due to the fact that the tribute only burdens 1 industry. ‘The fresh taxation does not lower fuel prices. It is primarily to deliver money to the budget," he said. In his opinion, the driver will not benefit from this construction.
Government changes plan, but not purpose
The decision from the Palace did not end the case, but moved it to another tracks. Deputy Minister of Energy Wojciech Wrochna admitted on Monday that there was a space to work on a more systemic solution. It is simply a constant alternatively than a one-off tribute from companies in the gas and refining sector, whose profits, as he said, are not always due to business efficiency itself. As a model, the bank taxation indicated. At the same time, he warned that it was the domain of the finance minister. From a one-time patch, the government wants to make a permanent component of the system.
Orlen and Real Profit Scale
The dispute is about "extraordinary profits", so it is worth looking at numbers. The Orlen Group closed 2025 with a net profit of PLN 2.648 billion, little than 100 million little than a year earlier. That's a score far from the record. The EBITDA of LIFO, reaching PLN 41.5 billion, looks a lot better, but to net profit the road is far away, due to the fact that the image disturbs the write-offs and overestimation of stocks. Danina would first of all hit a company controlled by the State and thus indirectly hit national assets. The rhetoric about "extraordinary" profits collides with the consequence account, which is not conclusive at all.
Who's gonna pay with the distributor?
The key question is, where does the taxation end up? The government argues that the tribute from the corporations will keep the prices at the stations lower. The president replies that it is the other and that the cost will go to the driver anyway. The energy hotel besides signaled another, ad hoc movement: a possible simplification in VAT on fuel for the last weeks of vacation, as a substitute for the expired support programme. no of these paths have yet to be determined.
Improvisation alternatively of Strategy
The image that emerges is fiscal patching the gap under time pressure. First, a one-off retroactive tax, erstwhile it has been retained, the VAT simplification considered. The state is looking for money in a sector that mostly controls itself, and it is doing so at a pace dictated by the vacation calendar and the state of the budget. The predictability of taxation law and the stableness of the national energy company fall to the background. The Court will measure the legality of the first tribute. The question of the meaning of all this fiscal improvisation remains open.
Source: Money.
