Poland to cut middle-class taxes as Tusk targets big business

New tax thresholds and a 24% intermediate rate are set to benefit 3.5 million taxpayers from 2027, with the government raising corporate tax and the solidarity levy to foot the bill. Polish PM Donald Tusk and Finance Minister Andrzej Domański have unveiled a sweeping reform of the tax system, with changes due to take effect from 2027.

The package is designed to ease the tax burden on Poland’s growing middle class while raising additional revenue from the country’s largest companies and wealthiest taxpayers.

Around 3.5 million taxpayers are expected to benefit from the changes, which will raise the personal income tax (PIT) threshold and introduce a new intermediate rate for middle earners.

The government says the reform will make the tax system “a little more fairer”, while ensuring that the cost of the tax cuts is covered through higher taxation of those with the greatest capacity to contribute.

New middle-income tax rate

The government proposes raising the personal income tax threshold from PLN 120,000 (€27,744) to PLN 130,000 (€30,061) a year. Under the new proposal, taxpayers earning between PLN 130,000 (€30,061) and PLN 150,000 (€34,687) would instead pay a 24% rate.

This means taxpayers crossing the current PLN 120,000 threshold will no longer immediately face the current top 32% rate. The 32% rate will apply only to income above PLN 150,000. “When we exceed 130 thousand zlotys, we do not catch on the highest, 32 percent threshold, but we will have 24 percent,” Tusk said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The prime minister said he had prepared the proposals together with Domański and argued that the new structure would better reflect rising wages while preventing salary increases from triggering disproportionately higher tax bills.

The changes are expected to come into force in 2027 and, according to Tusk, will benefit around 3.5 million taxpayers. Tusk presented the package as an attempt to redistribute the cost of Poland’s growing public expenditure while maintaining what he described as a responsible fiscal and budgetary policy.

“We decided with Minister Andrzej Domański to relieve the growing middle class in two dimensions,” the prime minister said. He also linked the reform to the country’s exceptionally high defence spending, arguing that the financial burden should be distributed more evenly across society.

“It is on the shoulders of the middle class that the financing of state security, large defence spending […]. We want to balance the financial effort of all citizens and burden some of the richest and richest companies,” Tusk said.

The government says the changes will allow it to provide relief to millions of middle-income taxpayers without abandoning its commitment to fiscal discipline.

Big corporations to pay more

The government acknowledges that the middle-class tax relief will cost the budget several billion zlotys and plans to compensate for the lost revenue through higher taxes on large companies and wealthy individuals.

“We will propose to raise the corporate tax (CIT) from 19 to 22 percent for entities achieving annual revenues exceeding 50 million euros, i.e. 200 million PLN, and for tax capital groups, i.e. those achieving the largest revenues of corporations and large enterprises,” Tusk said.

The higher corporate income tax would apply from next year to companies meeting the €50 million annual revenue threshold. Domański said the proposed 22% rate would be broadly in line with the European Union average. He pointed to Slovakia, which has recently raised its corporate income tax rate to 24%.

The government is also proposing to increase the solidarity levy paid by people earning more than PLN 1 million a year (€231,241). The rate would rise from 4% to 5%, adding one percentage point to the tax burden on the highest earners.

Another change concerns flat-rate taxation for entrepreneurs. The government plans to restore the previous annual revenue ceiling of €250,000, or around PLN 1 million, for taxpayers eligible for the preferential regime.

The threshold was raised in 2021 to €2 million, allowing substantially more businesses to use the flat-rate system.

The article in Polish by EUalive’s partner FocusEurope.pl can be found here.

Caption: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks during the 16th European Financial Congress in Sopot, northern Poland, 2 June 2026. The congress will run until 3 June. EPA/Adam Warzawa