Taxation of income from employment – equality dilemmas in the Polish tax system

Abstract

In contemporary economic turnover, there is a significant variety of ways of performing paid work. The aim of this paper is to analyse their tax aspects in the context of the principle of justice, to which the principle of equality is closely related. The research hypothesis assumes that the Polish tax system, by providing fundamentally different taxation rules depending on the form of employment, differentiates the tax burden for income obtained from various forms of work. The further hypothesis assumes that this differentiation is unjustified and infringes the principle of equality; it constitutes an injustice in taxation and, moreover, infringes the principle of neutrality, as it may potentially influence the taxpayers’ decisions as to the choice of form of employment motivated by tax considerations. To verify these hypotheses, various forms of performing paid work and the income tax acts concerning them were analysed. The analysis was carried out using the dogmatic-legal and legal-comparative methods. As a result, some recommendations de lege ferenda in the Polish legal system were formulated in order to ensure a neutral and fair system of taxation of income from paid work.