They have the lowest tax in Poland. Less money in the budget, but there are other benefits
- - We compared the rates with other municipalities and cities and it turns out that they have significantly higher rates than ours. The bus tax in Lwówek Śląski is PLN 50 or PLN 100, depending on the number of seats. Rates for heavy goods vehicles start at PLN 0 - emphasizes Dawid Kobiałka, who has been mayor for a year.
- The commune has already recorded revenues of over PLN 110,000 from new payers of the tax on means of transport this year. - But entrepreneurs who will settle here will also pay PIT in our commune and the money that remains in their pockets can be spent here - the mayor points out.
- However, residents should not count on significant reductions in property tax, because it would be too much of a loss for the commune's budget. - We will focus on limiting its increase in relation to inflation, other communes and maximum rates - says the mayor of Kobiałka, also maintaining the declaration of eliminating the fee for owning a dog.
A few months ago, councilors adopted a resolution on a significant reduction in the tax rates on means of transport. How will this affect the budget, planned investments? What revenues do you expect from this at the end of 2025 and what did it look like in previous years? Did this encourage more entrepreneurs to pay taxes in Lwówek?
Dawid Kobiałka, mayor of Lwówek Śląski: - We decided to reach out to transport, logistics, leasing and transportation companies . We introduced the lowest tax in Poland on means of transport (the so-called road tax). We compared the rates with other communes and cities that claim to have the lowest taxes and it turns out that they have significantly higher rates than ours.
The bus tax in Lwówek Śląski is 50 or 100 PLN, depending on the number of seats. Rates for heavy goods vehicles start at 0 PLN.
First of all, we help with all the formalities, of which there are very few - the company opens a branch or base in our commune, with the help of a local, Lwówek company, assigns vehicles to it and can already pay tax with us. Together with the City Council, we guarantee that this tax will be the lowest permanently, we do not intend to increase it. All information, rates, Excel for calculating the tax amount in our commune and direct telephone contact are on the website transport.lwowekslaski.pl.
Lwówek Śląski is close to the Czech-German border, so it is an attractive area for all transport and shipping companies. I think that the great interest of companies is the best proof of the quality of services in our office.
Due to such a reduction, about PLN 180,000 remained in the budgets of our domestic entrepreneurs . They can invest or save that much more.
From the road tax alone from new payers, we already have revenues of over PLN 110,000 . However, the exact financial benefits are not objectively measurable, because entrepreneurs who will live here will also pay PIT in our commune and the money that remains in the pockets of our entrepreneurs can be spent in the commune of Lwówek Śląski or income tax can be paid on them, which will partially return to the budget.
Additionally, of course, it is a huge promotion of our commune, which practically carries itself through Poland. Information about our low tax, about our pro-entrepreneurship approach reached about 2 million people in various media.
What about property tax rates? "I plan to move away from maximum rates"I suspect that in the case of, for example, property tax, there probably won't be such cuts, right? Because this is a much larger group of taxpayers and it would probably be too big of a loss for the budget...
- We have increased the property tax for 2025 by about 3% , as did many municipalities in our area, i.e. by as much as the ministerial rate was increased.
In the future, I plan to move away from the maximum rates, i.e. increase the rate by less than most municipalities do and less than the ministerial rates are increased.
If inflation is 8% and the property tax rate increases by 3%, then nominally the property tax rate decreases by about 5%, which is a significant amount for our budget.
This is very important for us, because property tax accounts for 12% of our annual income . We could not afford to reduce this tax so radically. We will focus on limiting its increase in relation to inflation, other municipalities and maximum rates.
Fee for owning a dog until liquidation, but it is not known whenLwówek Śląski is in the increasingly small group of municipalities that still have a dog ownership fee. However, you have announced its elimination. When can we expect this?
- Such a declaration was in the election program of our election committee and we stand by it. I plan to apply to the council to eliminate this fee in this term . In which year specifically? I would not like to make such declarations, but of course I already have a plan.
We have just introduced a huge change in the tax on means of transport, and we need to approach the budget responsibly. It will definitely not happen in 2025, and probably not in 2026 either. However, our program hangs in A3 format behind my desk and I look at it every day and remember what I have committed to do.
The fee for owning a dog is PLN 40, but how much does this revenue look like in total on a yearly basis?
- In the previous term, in which I was a councilor, we reduced this amount to PLN 40 per year . Annual revenues from this amount to approximately PLN 12,000 .
There are also many exemptions from this fee, because we also voted on changes in this area in the previous term. In reality, this fee affects an increasingly smaller group of residents and has less and less significance for the budget, and yet the sending of reminder letters by the employee who deals with it are costs that are disproportionate to the income we get from this fee.
Debt has increased. "However, we cannot stop the largest investments that are strategic for residents"It's been a year since you took over as mayor of Lwówek. What was the financial situation when you took over the commune and what is the current situation?
- We had a very difficult year, among others, due to the flood and large investments that we are implementing. This includes the construction of a kindergarten and the construction of a stadium. In 2024, the commune had PLN 17 million in debt, for now PLN 25 million is planned, among others, due to investments . Of course, it will be a much lower amount, because during the year various funds flow in, which reduce this debt, but at the moment we are not able to say how much it will be at the end of this year.
My goal until the end of my term is definitely to finish with less debt than we started with. However, we cannot stop the largest investments that are strategic for residents, such as the kindergarten and the stadium.
In the case of the kindergarten, the company that was selected in 2023 as the contractor for the investment stopped work and left the construction due to problems with financial liquidity. We therefore have to incur large additional costs, because there are liabilities to some subcontractors that the commune had to take over. This caused our costs to increase by approximately PLN 3 million. We had to do the inventory ourselves, because contact with the contractor broke off. But we have already completed the tender and selected a new contractor to complete the construction. We received permission from the commission under the Minister of Finance for the Polish Deal and we have an extended promise due to problems that resulted from the financial problems of the main contractor.
I have no complaints about my predecessors, because sometimes certain things cannot be predicted when choosing a contractor for such a large investment. At some point, I received some information that the construction was not going as it should. When I was still a city councilor, I asked about it - whether everything would definitely be done on time, and when I met with the building inspector as mayor, he was surprised by the information about the suspended works.
The commune suffered major losses during the September flood. It is waiting for more support from the government.How much damage did the commune suffer during the September flood in terms of municipal areas? How do you assess the state's assistance in reducing the effects of this flood?
- At the beginning we received funds in the amount of PLN 2 million from the state and over PLN 200 thousand from the Marshal's Office . At the moment, this is the only additional money we have received.
We have already had talks with the Voivodeship Office and are waiting for confirmation of the allocation of funds for the reconstruction of the destroyed footbridge, which we had to close. Residents have a longer route of approx. 2 km to reach their allotment gardens. As for other assistance from the state, it is not yet known. We have good contact with the governor and her employees, we are just waiting for actual funds that will be real support.
We have estimated our losses in public space at around PLN 13 million. This includes a damaged bridge, roads, networks, and even pumps at the swimming pool. Of course, we had to repair some of these things immediately, without waiting for external funds. Talks on the transfer of government funds are still ongoing and we hope that they will still flow to us or that some new support programs will appear.
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