Objectives:
The aim of this article is to analyze local public fees charged to persons temporarily staying in a tourist or spa municipality as an institution of financial law serving to implement the constitutional principle of financial independence of local government units. The authors adopt a dogmatic and systemic perspective, going beyond the traditional view of these fees as marginal sources of municipalities' own revenues.

Material and methods:
The article was written using traditional methods used in legal studies, linguistic analysis (dogmatic-legal and linguistic-logical methods), and comparative (comparative) and economic analysis of law. The monograph takes the form of an in-depth legal analysis of the principles of real estate taxation in the Polish legal system and the legal systems of European Union countries

Results:
The proposed amendment provides for the abolition of local and tourist taxes and their replacement with a new tourist tax, which may also be introduced in municipalities that are currently not entitled to levy local taxes. The proposed provisions will have a significant social impact in municipalities with high tourist traffic. T

Conclusions:
The current law on local taxes and fees allows municipalities to introduce two fees charged to individuals staying in the municipality for a short period of time, but longer than 24 hours: these are the local fee and the spa fee. The explanatory memorandum to the draft indicates that both fees are subject to criteria and conditions that significantly limit their usefulness in relation to the current needs of local governments.