European governments are redrawing their fiscal maps. Instead of raising taxes for everyone, they are targeting the sectors that made the most money in recent years — banks, fuel companies and digital platforms.
The shift is a response to record pressure on public budgets. States must finance defense, energy transformation, economic security and aging social systems. At the same time many countries, including Poland, are under the excessive deficit procedure and need to improve public finances. Raising taxes across the board is politically costly; cutting security or investment spending is similarly difficult.
So governments ask where the money is located. Poland is a clear example: from 2026, banks pay a 30% CIT rate, on top of the existing tax on financial institutions. According to the Polish Bank Association, the sector will contribute over 35 billion zlotys to the budget this year. The argument in Warsaw is that well-performing banks should share more of the burden in extraordinary times. Banks counter that lower profitability weakens their ability to finance companies and investment. The Polish Bank Association also warns that higher CIT may limit capital accumulation and translate into more cautious lending. Similar measures have been introduced or considered in Italy, Spain, Czechia and Slovakia.
Fuel, digital giants and the EU’s CORE
Energy and fuel companies are next on the list. After sudden price jumps and extraordinary profits, Poland drafted a temporary windfall tax on producers and importers of liquid fuels. It was expected to raise about 4 billion zlotys, but the president referred the bill to the Constitutional Tribunal.
Digital platforms are also in sight. Poland plans to introduce a digital tax from 2027, aimed at the largest players on the digital market, with projected revenues of around 1.7 billion zlotys a year. The European Commission wants to go further with CORE (Corporate Resource for Europe), targeting the largest enterprises on the single market and generating an average of roughly 6.8 billion euros a year.
What links these sectors? They are large, easy to identify, generate significant revenue and, in certain market conditions, can achieve results far above previous years. For proponents, this justifies giving part of the windfall back to the state. But the border between sharing exceptional gains and creating a permanent burden is thin. A tax designed too broadly or kept for too long can stop being a one-off transfer and turn into a fixed cost of doing business.
The hidden cost of sectoral taxes
– The mere fact that a sector achieves high profits should not be the only criterion for additional taxation. The key is the design of the levy – said Jan Sarnowski, former deputy finance minister, tax advisor and head of tax at Fieldfisher Poland.
Sarnowski points out that an income tax rises together with a company’s ability to pay, while a tax on assets, turnover or the very fact of doing business can hit a firm even when its financial situation worsens. The real test, he adds, is whether a levy remains a one-off transfer of extraordinary profits or becomes a permanent item in business costs.
– The direction of changes seems selective rather than universal. Instead of a uniform tax increase, the legislator introduces many additional burdens that raise the tax load and potentially complicate the nature of settlements – said Kamil Burakowski, manager in tax advisory at KPMG in Poland.
The Civil Development Forum (FOR) warns that part of the cost may eventually land on customers through higher prices, lower investment or weaker competition. The International Monetary Fund has also stressed that stable public finances are best built on broad and neutral tax bases. In exceptional situations selective sectoral taxes can make sense, but they risk distorting competition and shifting costs to consumers.
KPMG’s estimates show the scale: the higher CIT for banks is expected to bring about 6.5 billion zlotys in additional revenue in 2026, the fuel windfall tax around 4 billion zlotys, and the digital tax about 1.7 billion zlotys in its first year. From the budget’s perspective, these are substantial inflows. For companies, they are resources that could support investment, technology and competitiveness.
The immediate appeal of sectoral taxes is obvious: they deliver billions quickly without a broad tax increase. But the economic calculation does not end when money lands in the budget. It continues in investment decisions, prices, loan policies and competition. Europe needs banks to finance growth, energy companies to invest in transition, and large corporations to strengthen the single market’s competitiveness. Every new levy changes their business calculations.
The fiscal map can always be expanded, but the economy does not have unlimited territory for taxation. Governments may be walking into a trap if they drain the very sectors expected to generate future growth.
Źródło: WNP.PL, Fot. Andrzej Jackowski / PAP
