Election cycle versus personal income tax reliefs in Poland

Abstract

Goal – The main objective of the paper is to verify if the relation between the election cycles and the number of tax reliefs in Poland exists and – if it exists – what is its direction and strengh. Hypothesis – Election cycles affect the dynamics of introducing tax reliefs into the Polish Personal Income Tax. Research methodology – The research hypothesis was verified by assessing the cyclical fluctuations of the trend function describing the number of reliefs in the Polish Personal Income Tax. The study covers the years 1991-2018. The authors’ own calculations made on the basis of the legislative changes made in the studied period to the Act on Personal Income Tax of 26th July 1991 provide the source material for the research. Score – The study confirms positive relation between the election cycles and the dynamics of introducing tax reliefs into the Polish Personal Income Tax. The number of tax reliefs in personal tax cyclically fluctuates and, moreover, the total number of introduced tax reliefs is significantly higher in the election years and lower in the other accordingly.