Church Fund May Vanish As Government Flags Serious Budgetary Risks

The Polish government is analyzing the future of the Church Fund, warning that replacing it with a 2 percent PIT deduction could significantly increase state budget burdens compared to current expenditures.

Future of the Church Fund Under Scrutiny

The government is still analyzing the future of the Church Fund, for which 272.56 million PLN was allocated in 2026. One variant being considered is the possibility of transferring 2 percent of due PIT to a chosen Church or religious association. However, government analyses show that such a solution could prove significantly more expensive for the budget than the current system.

The dispute over the future of the Church Fund has entered a new stage. On May 13, 2026, the Sejm Committee on Petitions asked the Prime Minister for a comprehensive assessment of the idea allowing taxpayers to allocate 2 percent of their due income tax to a selected Church or religious association. The Committee also expected information on the effects of the work of the Interdepartmental Team for the Church Fund, appointed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk in January 2024.

Government Analysis of the 2 Percent PIT Deduction

The government’s response does not predetermine the introduction of the new mechanism. Instead, it indicates that the 2-percent deduction variant could be decidedly more costly than the current Church Fund. In a position signed on July 15, 2026, by State Secretary in the Ministry of National Defense Paweł Bejda, it was pointed out that such a solution would very likely mean a greater burden on the state budget than current expenditures related to the Fund.

This does not mean that a decision to replace the Church Fund with a 2-percent deduction has already been made. It is one of the analyzed variants, with its financial consequences remaining the fundamental problem.

Potential Multi-Fold Costs to the State Budget

The scale of potential costs would depend primarily on the number of taxpayers utilizing the new solution and the value of their due PIT. With personal income tax revenues counted in hundreds of billions of PLN, even a relatively small percentage of people transferring part of their tax to Churches would mean amounts significantly higher than current Fund expenditures.

According to calculations cited during the government analysis, if half of taxpayers utilized the 2 percent deduction, the reduction in state revenues could amount to about 2 billion PLN. With interest at the 25 percent taxpayer level, it would be about 1 billion PLN. This is respectively more than seven and nearly four times more than the 272.56 million PLN provided for the Church Fund in 2026.

Prof. Maksymilian Stanulewicz from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań assesses that depending on the system’s construction and taxpayer interest, its cost could reach from about 1 billion to even 3 billion PLN. However, the final value would depend on detailed rules that currently do not exist.

The 2026 Church Fund Budget and Historical Context

The Church Fund remains an element of the state budget in 2026, with 272.56 million PLN provided for its functioning. It is a separate item in the budget section concerning religious denominations and national and ethnic minorities, managed by the minister competent for religious denominations, currently the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration.

The Fund was established by the Act of March 20, 1950, as a mechanism related to the state’s takeover of landed property belonging to Churches and other religious associations. Currently, however, it is used by all religious associations with a regulated legal status in Poland, including those that did not operate in the country in 1950 and did not lose property back then.

Fund resources can be allocated, among other things, to clergy insurance contributions, charitable and care activities, and the conservation and renovation of historic sacral objects. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration indicates that in 2026 the maximum standard amount of a single subsidy is 200 thousand PLN, though in particularly justified cases the minister may grant more.

Clergy Contributions Consume Most Fund Resources

Social security and health insurance contributions for clergy remain the largest expenditure item of the Fund. According to data cited in the government response, they currently constitute about 95 percent of its expenditures.

Detailed information is provided by the Supreme Audit Office (NIK) control covering the years 2021–2023. During this period, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration spent a total of 618.4336 million PLN from the Church Fund. Social security and health insurance contributions for clergy were allocated 585.265 million PLN. Another 31.728 million PLN went to the conservation and renovation of historic sacral and church objects, and about 1.439 million PLN to charitable and care activities.

Fund expenditures grew during the audited period, rising from 193.664 million PLN in 2021 to 224.646 million PLN in 2023. At the same time, NIK confirmed that funds were allocated for purposes provided for in binding regulations. However, the Office drew attention to, among other things, the limited capabilities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration regarding supervision over the correctness of registering clergy of individual Churches and religious associations into the insurance system.

Liquidation Efforts Without a Consensus Successor

Prime Minister Donald Tusk appointed the Interdepartmental Team for the Church Fund on January 11, 2024. Its task was to prepare concepts for changes in the functioning of the Fund and new rules for financing social security and health insurance contributions and benefits for clergy. Despite the passage of over two and a half years, however, no solution has been adopted that could replace the current model.

Information presented by the government shows that various variants were analyzed, but no mechanism has been developed so far that would gain the necessary acceptance also from the perspective of public finances. In September 2025, the prime minister appointed ministry representatives to work in the Government Concordat Commission, which was intended to create conditions for formal negotiations with the Church Concordat Commission.

The matter has not only a tax dimension, as changing the financing system of the Catholic Church must take into account regulations concerning state-Church relations and the dialogue procedure with the church side. At the same time, potential solutions should also encompass other legally operating Churches and religious associations in Poland that currently benefit from the Fund.

Dialogue between the government and representatives of the Church is ongoing. In March 2026, Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration Marcin Kierwiński met with bishops during the 404th Plenary Assembly of the Polish Bishops’ Conference. The official communique after the meeting indicated the will for further state-Church dialogue, although it did not present an agreed model replacing the Church Fund.

The church side has argued for years that the Church Fund was established as an element of compensation for properties taken over by the state in 1950. This means the liquidation of the mechanism is not treated merely as a technical change in the method of financing clergy contributions.

The key obstacle currently remains the question of what to replace the Fund with. A mechanism based on taxpayer decisions would mean a more direct link between financing levels and social support for individual Churches and religious associations. However, with a deduction amounting to as much as 2 percent of PIT, its effects on the budget could be many times greater than the cost of the current system. It is precisely this problem that keeps the Church Fund functioning despite the declared will for reform for years.