Polityka gmin województwa małopolskiego w zakresie podatku od nieruchomości

While executing their responsibilities, local governments aim at satisfying broadly understood needs of the local communities so as to ensure them the best living conditions within the available financial resources. One of the instruments of such a policy is the right to set real estate tax rates. The purpose of the study is to show the tendencies in the tax policy of the Małopolska Region. The analysis comprises resolutions of all 182 municipalities in the 2003 and 2006. On the basis of the executed studies, it has been concluded that most municipalities applied tax regulations with rates set at 70–90% of rates proposed in the resolutions of the Minister of Finance. Thus resigning from a part of revenues due to them. The observation of the applied solutions points to the evolution of the tax policy of municipalities in the area of greater variation of the rates than envisaged by the law on taxes and local charges. This indirectly testifies the fact that municipalities perceive the opportunities to impact the local development by using available tax instruments