Poland's Deputy PM Doesn't Rule Out Guaranteed Income After 2030

Krzysztof Gawkowski, Poland's deputy prime minister and minister of digital affairs, said in a conversation with Prof. Aleksandra Przegalińska on the program Znam Przyszłość (I Know the Future) that tech corporations can no longer operate under a rule of total discretion over user data and attention. He also said the government does not rule out introducing a guaranteed income sometime after 2030.

Companies Must Share Profits

Gawkowski summed up the rule that big internet platforms operate by today in a single line he quoted during the conversation with Przegalińska. In his view, corporations act as if they're entitled to total discretion, since without their services users would have nothing in return anyway.

I'm allowed to do anything, because if I weren't here, you'd have nothing - Krzysztof Gawkowski, deputy prime minister and minister of digital affairs

The deputy prime minister argued that companies profiting from the data and attention of millions of users should hand over a larger share of their profits to the state. This isn't a new theme for him: he has spent months promising a digital tax, and on July 31, 2026, a bill to that effect officially reached the Government Legislation Centre.

The Digital Tax Foundation

The bill proposes a 3 percent tax on revenue that the largest digital platforms generate in Poland, including from personalized advertising, social media and marketplaces. It would cover entities with global revenue exceeding 1 billion euros and revenue from Polish operations above 25 million zloty a year. The government plans for the rules to take effect on January 1, 2027, and the finance ministry estimates budget revenue at about 31.7 billion zloty over a decade. Those estimates are already contested: some commentators and economists have questioned whether such figures are realistic, and even Finance Minister Andrzej Domański has previously distanced himself from Gawkowski's idea.

Guaranteed Income After 2030

What's new in Gawkowski's remarks is his open admission that the government is considering a guaranteed income sometime after 2030. The topic came up in the context of the digital tax and questions about how to fund support for people whose jobs may disappear due to automation and the growth of artificial intelligence.

Gawkowski gave no specific figure or payment mechanism, but linking the two topics in one conversation suggests that the Ministry of Digital Affairs sees a guaranteed income as a possible use for revenue from taxing big tech platforms. It's the first such explicit declaration by a Polish politician at this level, tying Big Tech taxation to direct income support for citizens within a horizon of a few years.

Limits on Artificial Intelligence

In the same conversation, Gawkowski also addressed the limits that should apply to AI systems. He said artificial intelligence should never have a right to free speech, and that it can support humans and make choices only within rules set by people, without making independent decisions that escape human control.

The deputy prime minister tied this to the country's digital security, saying that Russia is waging a digital war against Poland involving organized networks of trolls and bots aimed at spreading disinformation, sowing chaos and panic, and stoking social conflict.

Russia is waging a digital war against Poland - Krzysztof Gawkowski, deputy prime minister and minister of digital affairs

Gawkowski summed up his position by stating that technological sovereignty is a matter of Polish national interest (racja stanu), tying together the three threads of the conversation: rules for AI, pressure on Big Tech, and hybrid threats coming from Russia.

What This Means for Poland

For Polish tech companies and digital platforms, this means the Big Tech tax won't disappear from the government's agenda despite criticism from some economists and the finance ministry. For workers in sectors most exposed to automation, the declaration about a guaranteed income after 2030 signals that the government is starting to talk publicly about a safety net for job losses driven by AI, though without a concrete timeline.

The next test for Gawkowski's announcement will be how inter-ministerial consultations on the digital tax bill play out, and whether the Sejm (the lower house of Poland's parliament) manages to pass the legislation before the planned January 1, 2027 effective date. Only then will it be clear whether the promised billions of zloty actually reach the budget, and whether any portion of it goes toward a guaranteed income program.