Tonnage tax has been first introduced by Greece in 1957, with similar regimes following in the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, India, South Korea, Japan, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Finland and Ireland. The essence of the scheme is to calculate tax by reference to the net tonnage of the ship operated.

Poland has introduced the Tonnage Tax Act in 2006. However, the Act ins currently under review due to reservations by the European Commission regarding state aid to commercial entities that operate ships.