Hungarian Conservative

From 2010 the Hungarian government changed the previous approach to taxation entirely. This meant a significant reduction in taxes on labour, leaving more money for employers and employees, a huge improvement in the efficiency of consumption tax collection, and the most attractive corporate tax rate in the EU. The government has no plans to increase tax rates but is developing innovations that will make tax compliance simpler, less administrative and more efficient for both the tax administration and the taxpayer. It is fair to say that Hungary’s tax innovation has now become a best practice for the EU.

Speaking at the National Tax Consultation event organized by the National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV), Finance Minister Mihály Varga stated that with the change in the tax authority’s mindset, NAV has succeeded in becoming a customer-friendly office. He highlighted that NAV has fulfilled the task of renewal, evident in the significant improvement in its public perception since 2010.

The National Assembly of Bulgaria passed a new, €10.2 per megawatt-hour tax on Russian gas coming through the TurkStream pipeline. President Aleksandar Vučić of Serbia and Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó of Hungary have condemned the decision.

Speaking about both past and future efforts, the Hungarian prime minister identified five key targets in Hungary’s family policy: incentivizing childbirth; aiding home ownership; prioritizing mothers in family policy; promoting family-friendliness nationwide; and ensuring legal protection for families.

President of the Hungarian Taxi Association Zoltán Metál has requested the municipality to annul the personal taxi service permits granted in 2021 to Bolt HTX Kft. and the associated businesses by BKK. According to his argument, these permits are illegal.

Last year, the US terminated the 1979 double taxation avoidance agreement with Hungary. According to Szijjártó, the USG took this step in response to the Hungarian government not giving its consent to the introduction of the global minimum tax.

Two Russian ministries proposed that the Russian President issue a decree suspending agreements on the avoidance of double taxation with all countries that introduced unilateral economic sanctions against Russia during the war.

Around 125 billion HUF is estimated to have been invested in the five designated ‘spectator sports’ through the Hungarian government’s tax benefit programme in 2022.

The income tax exemption for those under 25 has been extended to include young mothers aged 25-30. The new regulation has been in force since 1 January.

After months of negotiations, EU ambassadors on Monday reached an agreement on the funding package that may allow Hungary to have access to part of its frozen EU funds. However, Poland’s unexpected veto on Wednesday may upset the plans.

A homogeneous tax would create a certain order in the taxation of multinational corporations, but for the Visegrád countries it could be a drag on economic development. If it is accepted, the countries in question will have to find other ways of attracting foreign capital.

Since 2022, those under the age of 25 have been exempt from paying personal income tax. According to a new government plan, the exemption may be expanded to women aged 25 to 29 if they commit to having their first child before they turn 30.

Diplomatic disputes over the OECD’s global minimum tax have flared up recently after Hungary vetoed its implementation at the EU level. To be clear, Hungary is also in favour of equal burden-sharing by multinational companies, but it has serious concerns with the timing and the details of the proposed regulation.

Ryanair’s notoriously outspoken CEO has been hurling insults at top government officials over the excess profits tax, even though Budapest had every right (and reason) to introduce it.

The EU is not only acting to apply pressure in international taxation, but is also seeking legal harmonization among member states.

‘Hopefully, under a second Trump administration, we’re going to see a new high in Hungarian⁠–⁠American relations that we haven’t seen since Kossuth visited America back in the 1850s,’ Republican Congressional Aide Johnny Szani pointed out in an interview with Hungarian Conservative.

‘Hungarians should heed Ireland’s example. Societal rot has existed for decades on the Emerald Isle, but only in recent years have its Catholic and Christian-democratic foundations palpably crumbled. Hungarian society becomes complacent over its cultural values at its own peril.’

Headquartered in Austria, Gebrüder Weiss Holding is a global, full-service logistics company employing approximately 8,600 people and operating 180 facilities. Their new 10 billion HUF investment, a logistics complex equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, was handed over on Thursday in Dunaharaszti.

‘If working people are voting more right: as in Australia in my 2013 election, America in Trump’s 2016 election, Britain in Boris Johnson’s 2019 Brexit election, and here in Hungary for the past decade, that’s because the main party of the right has become more economically pragmatic, more focussed on the social fabric, more targeted towards people’s living standards, and more concerned to uphold its own country’s interests over “global” ones.’

‘Maintaining and building on Trump’s realignment will require legitimate working-class voices under the GOP tent. Trump is a veritable hero to many working-class Americans, but he is the first to note he is a billionaire real-estate and television mogul. Vance’s life story and personal triumphs are remarkable, but he ultimately sports a Yale law degree and a résumé with corporate-law and venture-capital credentials. The changing Republican Party is short on figures like Mark Robinson.’

‘On average, women hold one third of managerial positions in the EU. In Hungary, the figure has been 39–40 per cent since 2010, and although it dropped a little during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are still among the top member states. ILO, the UN’s labour organization, also has a rate for senior and middle management positions in its databases, which is also above 35 per cent in Hungary.’

‘First, cannabis was licensed for medical use, then legalization became more widespread. It is the typical slippery slope. In fact, there are doors that, once opened, cannot be closed. Society-shaping (disruptive) philanthropists like George Soros, who have been at the forefront of making drug use easier for decades, know this all too well.’

Since 2017, the increase in the number of people employed in the high-tech sector has been larger than the increase in the number of people employed, and their share has also grown. This is the period when we were propelled into the EU lead. While in 2017 we were 0.9 percentage points above the EU average, by 2021 our lead had increased to 1.6 percentage points. During this time, the number of people working in the sector increased by a third to 300,000.

Since all the necessary permits have been obtained, Uber can indeed re-enter the Hungarian market in the summer. The American ride-hailing company withdrew from Hungary in 2016, but now it is set to resume operations in partnership with Főtaxi.

We have moved from our absolute fertility low in 2011, last in the EU, to sixth in 2022, with the highest growth in 2022. According to the latest Eurostat data, we moved up five places in 2022, the first year of the Russian-Ukrainian war, even though we had fewer children that year than in 2021. This fall was much smaller than in other EU countries.

The financial software developer Taxually, the manufacturing company Continest, and the logistics and transportation company United Shipping Hungaria have even made the top 100 on the Financial Times’ list. Minister of National Economy Márton Nagy hosted the top executives of the thirteen Hungarian companies included on the list for a congratulatory meeting.

In 2020 and 2021 both the number of births and the fertility rate increased in Hungary during the COVID-19 pandemic because the poverty and disadvantage of those with children relative to childless people decreased to such an extent that having children was no longer a financial disadvantage in 2019 and 2021.

In 2021 Hungary had the tenth lowest proportion of the population at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU, at 18.4 per cent. This compares to 30.6 per cent in 2014, when we ranked twenty-fourth, and our improvement of 12.2 percentage points is the largest among Member States.

GDP per capita growth has been above the EU-27 average in every year since 2010, so the Hungarian economy has grown faster than the EU average. Our decline in 2020 was also below average, and even below the large decline in 2009—despite the fact that the EU average decline in 2020 was larger than in 2009.

92 years ago today, Hungary’s first freely elected prime minister in the post-communist era, József Antall, was born. His legacy continues to wield significant influence in Hungarian politics today.