The Military Housing Fund in Pre-War Poland

Andrzej Witkowski

Abstract


The initiative to establish the Military Housing Fund (Fundusz Kwaterunku Wojskowego, FKW) was launched in 1925 in the Polish Senate, which, during considering the draft Act on accommodation for the army in peacetime adopted by the Polish Sejm opposed the possibility provided for by the draft law (causing social unrest) to seize (for a compensation) private premises for permanent accommodation for officers and married non-commissioned officers, in a situation where other (specified in the Act) methods of acquiring housing for this purpose did not bring the expected results. The Senate voted in favour of the construction and maintenance of residential buildings intended as permanent housing for the military by a specially established FKW. A fundamental role in the structure of its financing (as non-returnable income) was played by the accommodation tax. However, it covered the same premises and the same people who were already burdened with the municipal tax on premises and the state tax on premises. The situation in which the same premises and the same individuals were burdened, according to the same rules, with three taxes (in the total amount of up to 15% of rent), changed on 2 August 1926 with the enactment of the Act on the tax on premises, which replaced the previous ones and the new tax was to be collected starting from 1 August 1926, also for the purposes of the FKW (a total of 114,174,379 Polish zlotys was paid to the FKW account by the end of 1938). This solution, combined with the authorisation of the FKW to take out (with the guarantee of the Government) a loan of up to 140 million zlotys, allowed the FKW to pursue a quite broad construction activity, which resulted (in the period 1927–1937) in 7,334 dwellings for officers and married non-commissioned officers (in 1938 a total of 1,577 dwellings were under construction).


Keywords


Military Housing Fund; pre-war Poland; accommodation for the army in peacetime; the Polish Senate; the Polish Sejm

References


REFERENCES

LITERATURE

Domy mieszkalne Funduszu Kwaterunku Wojskowego. Sprawozdanie 1930–1933, Warszawa 1934.

Działalność budowlana Funduszu Kwaterunku Wojskowego, “Architektura i Budownictwo” 1929, no. 2–3.

Fermus-Bobowiec A., Prawne instrumenty polityki mieszkaniowej w Polsce w latach 1944–1956, “Miscellanea Historico-Iuridica” 2019, vol. 18(2), DOI: https://doi.org/10.15290/mhi.2019.18.02.11.

Mały Rocznik Statystyczny 1939, Warszawa 1939.

Sprawozdanie Funduszu Kwaterunku Wojskowego 1927–1937, Warszawa 1938.

Weinfeld I., Skarbowość polska, Warszawa 1934.

Witkowski A., Podatek od lokali w Polsce w latach 1944–1950, “Miscellanea Historico-Iuridica” 2011, vol. 10, DOI: https://doi.org/10.15290/mhi.2011.10.11.

Witkowski A., Podatek od lokali w Polsce międzywojennej do 1936 r., “Studia Iuridica Lublinensia” 2013, vol. 19.

Wierzchowski W., Podatek od lokali, [in:] Kalendarz Skarbowy na 1939 rok, Warszawa 1939.

Zawadzki A.W., Finanse samorządu terytorialnego w latach 1918–1939, Warszawa 1971.

Zbiór ustaw i rozporządzeń administracyjnych opracowany przez J. Piwockiego, volt. 1, Lwów 1899.

SEJM (POLISH PARLIAMENT) RESOURCES

Constituent Assembly (1919–1922), paper no. 235, 1686, 2667, 2791.

Constituent Assembly (1947–1952), paper no. 919.

Sejm (1922–1927), paper no. 992, 1209, 1531, 2100, 2130, 2131, 2132, 2142, 2270.

Senat (1922–1927), paper no. 20.

Stenographic record of the 102th session of the Sejm of 22 February 1924.

Stenographic record of the 121th session of the Sejm of 23 May 1924.

Stenographic record of the 123th session of the Sejm of 3 June 1924.

Stenographic record of the 163 h session of the Sejm of 25 November 1924.

Stenographic record of the 235th session of the Sejm of 15 July 1925.

Stenographic record of the 79th session of the Senat of 19 December 1924.

Stenographic record of the 82th session of the Senat of 28 February 1925.

Stenographic record of the 83th session of the Senat of 5 February 1925.

Stenographic record of the 28th session of the Constituent Assembly of 8 April 1919.

Stenographic record of the 296th session of the Constituent Assembly of 4 April 1922.

LEGAL ACTS

Act of 13 March 1889 introducing the municipal government for cities and towns […] (Journal of Land Laws and Regulations for the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, no. 24).

Act of 3 July 1896 introducing a municipal government for towns not covered by the Act of 13 March 1889 and major communes in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria with the Grand Duchy of Kraków (Journal of Land Laws and Regulations for the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, no. 51).

Act of 8 April 1919 on providing housing for the needs of the army (Journal of Laws of the Polish State 1919, no. 31, item 262).

Act of 11 April 1919 on wartime material services (Journal of Laws of the Polish State of 1919, no. 32, item 264).

Act of 27 November 1919 on the duty of Municipal Boards to provide rooms (Journal of Laws 1919, no. 92, item 498).

Act of 23 April 1920 on the extension of the binding force of the Act of 8 April 1919 on providing housing for the needs of the army (Journal of Laws 1920, no. 37, item 211).

Act of 17 December 1921 on the funding for municipal finance and on penalties imposed by municipalities for false tax statements in the areas of the former Russian and Austrian partitions (Journal of Laws 1922, no. 2, item 6).

Act of 4 April 1922 on the duty of Municipal Boards to provide housing (Journal of Laws 1922, no. 33, item 264).

Act of 11 August 1923 on the temporary regulation of municipal finances (Journal of Laws 1923, no. 94, item 747).

Act of 11 April 1924 on the protection of tenants (Journal of Laws 1924, no. 39, item 406).

Act of 23 May 1924 on general military service obligation (Journal of Laws 1924, no. 61, item 609).

Act of 29 April 1925 on the development of cities (Journal of Laws 1925, no. 51, item 346).

Act of 15 July 1925 on the accommodation of the army in peacetime (Journal of Laws 1925, no. 97, item 681).

Act of 2 August 1926 on the tax on premises (Journal of Laws 1926, no. 94, item 550; Journal of Laws 1934, no. 76, item 718).

Act of 23 March 1929 on the transfer of state property to the Military Housing Fund (Journal of Laws 1929, no. 26, item 269).

Act of 17 December 1931 amending the Act of 2 August 1926 on the tax on premises (Journal of Laws 1931, no. 112, item 879).

Act of 24 March 1933 on relief for newly erected buildings (Journal of Laws 1933, no. 22, item 173).

Act of 27 April 1951 on the accommodation of the Armed Forces (Journal of Laws 1951, no. 26, item 194).

Decree of 8 February 1919 on the requisition of premises for the needs of state offices (Journal of Laws of the Polish State 1919, no. 14, item 197).

Decree of the President of the Republic of 14 November 1935 on the tax on premises (Journal of Laws 1935, no. 82, item 505).

Decree of the President of the Republic of Poland of 14 November 1935 on the reduction of the rent and amending the Act on the protection of tenants (Journal of Laws 1935, no. 82, item 504).

Decree of the President of the Republic of Poland of 28 July 1939 amending the Act on the accommodation of the army in peacetime (Journal of Laws 1939, no. 68, item 461).

Decree of 21 December 1946 on public housing management (Journal of Laws 1946, no. 4, item 27).

Ordinance of the Minister of Military Affairs and the Minister of the Interior of 29 April 1919 on the introduction of the obligation to provide wartime services (Polish Monitor 1919, no. 98).

Ordinance of the Minister of Internal Affairs of 5 May 1919 concerning the authorization of District Departments to requisition housing for workers employed for public works (Polish Monitor 6.05.1919, no. 100).

Ordinance of the Minister of Military Affairs and the Minister of the Interior of 21 June 1919 on the regulations implementing the Act of 8 April 1919 on providing housing for the needs of the Army (Polish Monitor 1919, no. 136).

Ordinance of the Minister of Military Affairs and the Minister of the Interior of 11 November 1919 on the regulations implementing the Act of 8 April 1919 on providing housing for the needs of the Army (supplement) (Journal of Laws 1919, no. 91, item 493).

Ordinance of the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of the Treasury of 29 April 1922 to implement the Act of 17 December 1921 on the funding for municipal finance and on penalties imposed by municipalities for false tax statements in the areas of the former Russian and Austrian partitions (Journal of Laws 1922, no. 34, item 294).

Ordinance of the Minister of the Interior of 27 November 1924, issued in consultation with the Minister of the Treasury on the determination of the maximum rates of the tax on premises for 1925 (Journal of Laws 1924, no. 104, item 949).

Ordinance of the Minister of the Treasury of 25 May 1925, issued in consultation with the Ministers of the Interior and of Public Works, on the assessment and collection of the state tax on premises and on undeveloped plots, in order to implement Article 18 of the Act of 29 April 1925 on the development of cities (Journal of Laws 1925, no. 57, item 407).

Ordinance of the Minister of the Interior of 26 October 1925, issued in consultation with the Minister of the Treasury on the determination of the maximum rates of the tax on premises for 1926 (Journal of Laws 1925, no. 115, item 818).

Ordinance of the Minister of the Treasury of 29 December 1926, issued in consultation with the Ministers of the Interior and Military Affairs to implement the Act of 2 August 1926 on the tax on premises (Journal of Laws 1927, no. 12, item 95).

Ordinance of the Minister of Military Affairs of 2 June 1927, issued in consultation with the Ministers of Treasury, Public Works and Interior on the Military Housing Fund (Journal of Laws 1927, no. 56, item 496).

Ordinance of the Minister of Military Affairs of 27 February 1928, issued in consultation with the Ministers of Treasury, Interior, Agriculture, Public Works, Religious Denominations and Public Enlightenment and the Minister of Justice on the implementation of Articles 9 and 12 of the Act of 15 July 1925 on the accommodation of the army (Journal of Laws 1928, no. 26, item 240).

Ordinance of the President of the Republic of 12 September 1930 on tax reliefs for newly erected buildings (Journal of Laws 1930, no. 64, item 508).

Ordinance of the President of the Republic of Poland of 21 May 1932 on the dissolution of the office of Minister of Public Works (Journal of Laws 1932, no. 51, item 479).

Ordinance of the Minister of the Interior to implement the Act of 2 August 1926 on the tax on premises (Journal of Laws 1934, no. 85, item 772).

Ordinance of the Minister of the Interior to implement the Presidential Decree of 14 November 1935 on the tax on premises (Journal of Laws 1936, no. 33, item 258).

Resolution of the Council of Ministers of 30 May 1949 on the liquidation of the Military Housing Fund as a legal person (Polish Monitor 1949, no. 36, item 512).

Tax Act of 29 March 1939 for the period from 1 April 1939 to 31 March 1940 (Journal of Laws 1939, no. 27, item 177).




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/sil.2021.30.5.541-575
Date of publication: 2021-12-17 19:45:39
Date of submission: 2021-04-19 23:02:10


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