Mine authorities may have to return zl.600 million after court ruling on tax

The Stowarzyszenie Gmin Gorniczych w Polsce (SGGP) association of district mining authorities plans to submit a motion to the Finance Ministry, calling for the overturning of a Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) ruling that underground mining excavations should not be subject to tax. Should they fail in their bid to have the NSA decision overruled, the authorities might have to return almost zl.600 million to the mines. "The law in Poland is not consistent. In 1997, the court declared that underground excavations were not subject to tax. Two years later, the NSA overruled that decision. In July, the court again decided in favor of the mines," said Tadeusz Chroszcz, president of the SGGP. He went on, "In the rest of the world excavations are regarded as real estate and the property of mines. In our country they are treated as simple holes in the ground." However, spokesman for the Bodganka mine, Miroslaw Taras, said the mines paid exploitation fees and tax on buildings on the ground, so it wasn't as if the authorities would be left without revenue. (Puls Biznesu, p. 5) P.J.