Wybrane podatki i opłaty środowiskowe (ekologiczne) – ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem ochrony zasobów naturalnych
Selected environmental (green) fees and taxes – with particular emphasis on the protection on natural resources.

Summary/Abstract: The permanent and continuous deterioration of the natural environment requires active responding to these phenomena on the part of public authorities. Any activity involving the appropriate management of environmental protection processes is part of the framework of the state’s green policy. One of the economic instruments of this policy are “green taxes” and “green fees”. However, these concepts, apart from the tax itself, have not been defined by the Polish legislator and this issue is addressed in relevant literature only. Interpretive doubts were also intensified by the lack of a legal definition of the term natural resources. The aim of this article is, therefore, to characterize and analyze green fees and taxes, which are one of the economic instruments that make the state’s ecological policy. Reference is also made to the scope and concept of natural resources, because on this basis a scheme for selecting individual public levies is built, assigning them to this specific category. The study employs the method of investigation of the law in force, taking positive current law as its basis. The following conclusions have been made. The concept of “green tax” is regulated by EU law. This definition includes both fees and taxes that are public levies related to environmental protection, with the national legislator having relative freedom in defining their different names. In Poland, these tributes are compulsory, non-refundable and monetary in nature. Regardless of the name used, these levies have a common attitude towards changes in the natural environment and the fact that by collecting them public tasks in the field of environmental protection are carried out. Unfortunately, it is difficult to grasp the difference between a green tax and a green fee. This difference lies in the latter’s equivalence. Due to its pro-environmental nature, ecological taxation has a greater non-fiscal significance. Interpretation difficulties are also caused by natural resources, which are not defined in Polish legislation but only regulated in a closed catalogue, excluding other natural elements. The article takes into account the law in force as at 31 January 2026.

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