Tax and Legal Instruments of Protection of Ambient Air as Seen in the Example of the Thermal Upgrade Relief

Ambient air is one of the most essential natural resources. Its quality directly impacts the health of living organisms. Thus it determines the scale of public spending as a consequence of atmospheric pollution. At the same time, due to the properties of this resource, the problem of its protection has a transnational, global dimension. Therefore, states should undertake and constantly intensify activities the goal of which is to meet not only ambient air quality norms, but also those norms which will allow an effective impact on the improvement of its quality. Instruments and institutions falling under various branches of the law, including the tax law, are used for this purpose. A thermal upgrade relief was introduced to the Polish tax system at the beginning of 2019. The basis and principles of its application were defined in the personal income tax act. The paper presents substantiated use of tax instruments in the protection of ambient air, the legal basis and principles of application of the discussed tax preference. The conducted analysis gave rise to the formulation of de lege lata and de lege ferenda conclusions.