Taxes. Tusk's government introduces “new audiovisual tax”? No

Marcin Warchoł, PiS MP, member of Sovereign Poland and former Minister of Justice entry on X On August 29, he started his followers: “Did you know that smiling Poland will introduce a new audiovisual tax – PLN 108 per person per year? Well, now you know.” The politician suggested that the government had planned a new tax for citizens.

His post had been viewed over 110 thousand times by September 3. Some people commented under it: “or maybe the information that this is instead of an RTV license fee, Mr. Lawyer – please do not manipulate”; “You lacked the courage* to mention that this is supposed to be an exchange for a license fee? * I am not talking about decency – you have not even heard of it…”; “And do you know, you idiot, that for most people it will be less than before? Well, now you know.”; “That's great news! I will pay 1/3 of the previous amount!”. Others, however – although in smaller numbers – expressed their dissatisfaction with the alleged new fee and wrote, for example: “I am starting to get annoyed with these new smiling taxes…” (we will keep the original spelling of all posts).

Similar information – titled: “The Era of Tusk. The government wants to introduce another tribute – an audiovisual tax from everyone” – was also posted by Fronda.pl portal.

This message coincided with the meeting of the Council of Ministers, which decided to adopt the resolution on 28 August. Draft Budget Act for 2025which must be submitted to the Sejm for consideration by the end of September. On that day, among others, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski (Left) he informedthat “we will not [nakładać] no new taxes”. In turn, the head of the parliamentary economic committee, Ryszard Petru (Poland 2050), reported that he “has not heard of any ideas for new taxes”. The only new tax “that is being quietly discussed” – as Petru mentioned – is a possible war tax, which – in his opinion – should be excluded from the area of ​​standard taxes. The politician emphasized that theoretically, the introduction of such a tax could only take place if there was a strong political justification and it should be allocated to the implementation of “one specific matter” and could not be introduced permanently.

So where did the information about the “new audiovisual tax” mentioned by MP Marcin Warchoł come from?

There has been talk of changes to the rules for financing public media since the change in government after the parliamentary elections in October 2023. Before we describe them, let us recall the current rules for the radio and television subscription fee. It is collected by Poczta Polska, and the proceeds from the fees are transferred to the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) to be used to carry out the public mission by Telewizja Polska and Polskie Radio. The regulations (Act of 21 April 2005 on subscription fees) it is presumed that every person who has a radio or television receiver in a condition enabling immediate reception of the programme uses that receiver and should pay the licence fees.

The amount of subscription fees in the current calendar year – in accordance with KRRiT regulation of May 10, 2023 on the amount of subscription fees for the use of radio and television receivers and discounts for paying them in advance for a period longer than one month in 2024 – amounts to:

The fee may be lower – the discount results from paying fees for a period longer than one month and ranges from 3% (for a fee for two months) to 10% (for a fee in advance for 12 months). Therefore, for paying the fee for a year in advance, it is (in the case of a radio receiver) PLN 94 and (in the case of a television receiver or television and radio receiver) – PLN 294.90.

Exemption from subscription fees (based on art. 4 sec. 1 of the aforementioned Act) applies to, among others, persons: who are over 75 years of age; who are over 60 years of age and are entitled to a retirement pension, the amount of which does not exceed 50% of the average monthly salary; who are included in the first disability group and veterans who are war or military invalids.

The assumptions of the act reforming public media, the so-called large media act, were discussed in January this year in “Signals of the day“on Radio Jedynka, the chairman of the parliamentary culture committee, Bogdan Zdrojewski (Civic Coalition), who was quoted Polish Press AgencyThe politician confirmed that the solutions included in the public media reform may include those that change the rules for financing television.

“In these assumptions we have an alternative: either it is a so-called audiovisual fee (…), or it is a mechanism, and not a one-year subsidy from the state budget, according to a specific coefficient. However, one thing is certain, the subscription fee ends on January 1, 2025,” said Zdrojewski.

Zdrojewski added that the audiovisual fee would amount to 8.30 PLN per month and would replace the RTV license fee. The exemptions that are currently in force would also be maintained. “Exemptions are being introduced there for children and young people up to 25 years of age. Of course, war invalids, as well as disabled people, would also have these exemptions,” Zdrojewski listed. “The collection of fees would be automatic to a large extent,” he said. As it results from Zdrojewski's words, the audiovisual fee would therefore amount to PLN 99.6 per year.

However, the Ministry of Culture has gone in a direction that Zdrojewski has only just hinted at – the possible financing of public media from the state budget. Already in April 2024, such a solution the website Jedennewsdziennie.pl reported.

There is no relevant draft of the media law yet. At the moment, public consultations are only being conducted on its assumptions. It started on June 24th Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, according to the plan, they are to end on September 23.

Since the adoption of the new media law results from EU regulations – the need to implement the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) – the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage has developed its own concept implementing it into the Polish legal system. It states: “It is proposed to repeal the Act on Subscription Fees, and consequently eliminate the obligation to pay these fees by households and other entities obliged to pay them.”

Moreover, the ministry wrote that “as the state budget is proposed as the primary source of financing for the public mission of public broadcastersfrom which funds would be transferred for purposes related to the implementation of the public mission” (editor's bold).

This is explained by the fact that “since 2018, the state budget has actually borne the main cost of financing public media in Poland. Therefore, the formal introduction of the budget financing mechanism is only a confirmation of the actual state of affairs.”

The document “proposes basing the statutory mechanism for determining the amount of budget financing on the amount of GDP. It is proposed that the financing of activities aimed at implementing the public mission by public radio and television broadcasting entities should be financed annually by expenditure from the state budget in an amount similar to the current one, i.e. at the level of 0.09% of GDP”. Then, calculations are made, and according to the Ministry of Culture, “the amount of public funds allocated for the implementation of the public mission, assuming the level of GDP specified for 2024, would amount to approximately PLN 3.4 billion”.

The report on the consultations is scheduled for October. The draft bill, which would then go to inter-ministerial consultations, is to be ready by the end of the year. Then the draft should be adopted by the Council of Ministers and sent to the Sejm.

Therefore, Marcin Warchoł's claim about the introduction of a new audiovisual tax is untrue – government documents recommend financing public media from the state budget.