Abstract
Decentralisation of public finance in Poland was an important element of changes in the political system of the country. As a result, some tasks of the state were transferred to the local government level. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the budget expenses on cultural tasks incurred by local government units in Poland in the years 2003–2012 and outlines the legal frameworks of the local government financial management in Poland. Using a model based on the double logarithmic function, the author tests a hypothesis, according to which the broadly understood culture might be regarded as a necessity or luxury good, depending on the value of the coefficient of elasticity of the expenses on culture incurred by local government units in relation to the gross regional product.