The article presents research on the local property tax policy of rural and urban-rural municipalities in Poland. Various methods were used to investigate the data interdependencies of mathematical statistics (Pearson’s correlation test, Spearman’s correlation test and Pearson’s independence test). For direct data and coefficients, Pearson’s classic correlation was used. With regard to the processed, dichotomic and enumerated data (including the contingency tables), Spearman’s rank correlation was used. The study showed that the tax policy of the analysed municipalities was differentiated and could, under certain conditions, give rise to a positive upward tendency of incomes generated in property tax – which should be seen as an original contribution of work from the authors of this article.

The article explores the problems of theoretical aspects of local tax system rationalisation. The deliberations conducted concern possibilities of referring recommendations made by the contemporary theoretical achievements describing economic effects of property taxation to the tax practice of certain European countries (for example Poland). The content of the article indicates that conclusions resulting from the theory of property taxation should support the operational transformations of the local tax system..Having analysed influential studies on property taxation the author expresses his opinion that despite essential differences, both approaches (benefit view and capital view) have a great value. It should be stated, however, that we have to do with the tax which is not a pure tax on benefit because the owners of property, while improving it, are charged with higher taxes, being thus discouraged from any investments. Simultaneously, benefits resulting from social and economic programmes conducted at the local level are reflected in the local property value. The article applies the method of analysis and literature criticism as well as the intuition method.

Tax on means of transport is one of the own revenues of city counties in Poland. They may affect its construction within the scope defined by the legislator. The authors of the article examined and evaluated the volume, stability and diversification of the significance of revenues achieved by city counties on account of tax on means of transport and discussed the significance of certain factors determining their level. Among these factors the local tax policy deserves a special attention. Therefore, the authors examined the scale of application of instruments of the local tax policy as well as their practical effectiveness reflected by the budget revenue growth in the subsequent periods. The following methods were used: descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, classical Pearsons independence test or Spearmans rho correlation test. The article also presents econometric models illustrating the effects of tax policy in relation to particular categories of tax payers of tax on means of transport.

Słowa kluczowe: podatki lokalne; podatki majątkowe od nieruchomości; budżet władz lokalnych; legitymizacja podatków majątkowych Keywords: local taxes; wealth taxes on property; local authorities budget; legitimization of property tax collection Kod JEL: H21; H71; K34 Wstęp W ramach toczącej się od dłuższego czasu dyskusji na temat potrzeby przeprowadzenia reformy systemu finansowego samorządu terytorialnego w Polsce szczególnie dużo miejsca poświęca się niezbędnym zmianom w systemie podatków majątko-wych, przede wszystkim od majątku nieruchomego [zob. np. Etel, 1998;Wójtowicz, 2007]. W debacie na temat docelowego kształtu polskiego systemu podatków majątkowych dominują głosy postulujące wprowadzenie nowego podatku od nieruchomości o nowoczesnej konstrukcji, dostosowanej do rozwiązań obowiązujących w większości państw o gospodarce rynkowej -podatku ad valorem.Celem artykułu jest zarysowanie kierunku zmian normatywnych w strukturze dochodów podatkowych gmin, które można by wprowadzić w Polsce w najbliższych latach. Opracowanie składa się z dwóch części. W pierwszej (empirycznej) zilustrowano obecne znaczenie fiskalne podatków lokalnych, z którymi jest związane aktywne Pobrane z czasopisma Annales H -Oeconomia http://oeconomia.annales.umcs.pl

The article explores the subject of diversification of local tax policy and its fiscal consequences in Poland in 2007–2019. It focuses on various types of municipalities and tax governance tools they use (establishing tax rates, applying tax exemptions and non-statutory reliefs). The analysed taxes include immovable property taxes (property tax, agricultural tax) and movable property ones (tax on means of transport). Theoretical and empirical analyses confirmed the hypotheses. Polish municipalities utilize tax governance tools on a small scale and their taxation policies differ depending on the category of local tax and the type of municipality.