Podatki realizujące zasadę „zanieczyszczający płaci”
Taxes Implementing the ‘Polluter Pays’ Principle

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to assess the impact of the ‘polluter pays’ principle (PPP) on the normative contents and application of regulations shaping selected taxes in Poland. The author conducts a dogmatic legal analysis of national and EU legislation as well as the CJEU case law, focusing on the criteria for identifying environmental taxes and selected national taxes. The results of the analysis show that the PPP functions mainly as a policy guideline for legislators and is rarely directly applied in tax law. The lack of a clear definition of ‘environmental tax’ also complicates the application of the ‘polluter pays’ principle in the interpretation of tax law. This problem may be solved by the conclusions presented in the CJEU ruling in the Endesa Generacion case, which was the subject of the analysis. In practice, environmental protection standards and environmental charges remain the key instruments for implementing the PPP. Taxes can play a complementary role in environmental protection, although their importance is growing in view of the planned reform of energy taxation.

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