There will be a second attempt. Pełczyńska-Nałęcz: We will renew the bill increasing excise duty

Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, Minister of Funds and Regional Policy, announced that the Polish 2050 club will again submit a bill increasing the excise tax on alcohol. This time with a provision: every zloty from the additional excise tax goes to health care, she added.

On Thursday, the President's Office announced that Karol Nawrocki had signed 15 bills and vetoed three. Among those that the president opposed is the law increasing excise tax on alcohol and the law increasing the sugar levy.

The president said that instead of fighting the VAT mafias, the government was choosing the easiest path and – through the act on increasing excise duty – reaching for Poles' money. In his opinion, if the intentions of both acts were “truly health-promoting”, they would include a provision that “every zloty of additional revenues goes exclusively to health care”.

In her Friday entry on the X platform, Pełczyńska-Nałęcz announced that Poland 2050 would repeat the project vetoed by the president, although – as she noted – “this time with a clear provision: every zloty from the additional excise tax goes to health care.”

“Mr. President, we say 'I'm checking'. If the reason for the veto on the increase in alcohol excise duty was actually the lack of a guarantee that the money would go to health care, and not someone's 'important request', then we are changing it,” noted the deputy head of Poland 2050. She asked the president whether he would sign the bill in this form “without hesitation.”

“After all, it is pure savings. Today, we all pay extra for the consequences of alcohol abuse. These are gigantic costs, estimated at up to PLN 100 billion,” she emphasized.

According to the ministry, people are fed up with this. “70 percent of Poles believe that alcohol is too easily available today. That's why our next bill is going through the Sejm, which will ban alcohol advertising (including the '0%' one), give municipalities the opportunity to introduce bans on the sale of alcohol from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m. and put an end to alcohol at gas stations,” she emphasized.

She added that if vetoes are “to serve Poles, let the signature also serve them.” She expressed hope that the president would sign both bills. (PAP)

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