Poland’s PiS party is attacking Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government over a planned levy on electronic devices, despite having previously proposed a similar fee themselves.
PiS Accuses Tusk of Introducing New Tax
The Law and Justice (PiS) party claims that “Donald Tusk is introducing a new tax,” referring to a planned fee on smartphones, laptops, and televisions.
PiS stated on X (formerly Twitter) that the new “fee” is simply another tax consumers will pay out of pocket, potentially adding hundreds of zlotys to the cost of devices, using the hashtag “new tax from Tusk.”
Czarnek’s Campaign Spot Highlights Levy
Przemysław Czarnek, PiS’s candidate for prime minister, released an advertisement resembling a campaign spot that references the updated regulations regarding the reprographic fee.
The ad features a voiceover stating that laptops, televisions, smartphones, and other devices will become more expensive under Tusk’s “new tax,” and includes images of artists who previously criticized PiS’s actions.
The Reprographic Fee: Background and Purpose
The fee, a reprographic levy, is intended to compensate creators for the use of their work when copied onto “clean media” for personal use. It will apply to devices from the end of 2026, at a rate of 1% of their price.
The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage argued that Poland’s current revenue from the reprographic fee is among the lowest in the EU, at 36 million złoty in 2024, and the new regulations aim to increase this to 150-200 million złoty annually.
PiS Previously Sought to Implement the Fee
In 2020, then-Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture Piotr Gliński announced an update to the list of devices subject to the reprographic fee, planning to include the same devices now in the updated catalog.
A year later, Wanda Zwinogrodzka, then-Deputy Minister of Culture, also spoke of the need to introduce the fee, expressing hope that “the logic of facts” would allow the project to succeed despite opposition.
PiS Backtracked Amid Criticism and Presidential Concerns
Ultimately, the PiS government abandoned the plan, facing criticism from the electronics industry. In 2021, President Andrzej Duda stated he would not sign legislation introducing the fee.