Hungary’s national government is providing unprecedented levels of support to families, according to Zsófia Koncz, State Secretary for Families at the Ministry of Culture and Innovation, who spoke on the M1 news channel on Tuesday.
Koncz said funding allocated to family policies in this year’s budget is nearly 1000 billion forints higher than last year, despite the government already launching what it describes as Europe’s largest tax reduction programme. She noted that more than 70,000 mothers have already applied for tax benefits through the online platform of the National Tax and Customs Administration of Hungary, while others can request personal income tax exemption through their employers.
From January, around half a million mothers became exempt from personal income tax, and within three years all mothers with two children will also receive the exemption, she said. Mothers with three or more children only need to submit a declaration once to qualify for the benefit, an option that many had already taken last year.
According to the state secretary, around 250,000 mothers with three children and 120,000 mothers under 40 with two children are eligible for the tax relief. The measure has also been extended to include mothers under 30 with one child. Koncz said these steps show that the Hungarian economy has become increasingly family-centred.
She added that the government has continuously expanded home-creation programmes and strengthened the nursery network to help parents balance work and family life. The tax exemption for mothers with four or more children was introduced in 2020, followed by personal income tax exemption for people under 25 in 2022.
Further measures followed in 2023 with benefits for mothers under 30, and last year tax exemptions were extended to mothers with three children. From January this year, mothers under 40 with two children also qualify for the benefit. The exemption for mothers with two children will be introduced gradually, as there are about 690,000 mothers in this category.
Koncz said the programme will continue expanding until 2029. Starting next January, mothers under 50 with two children will become eligible, followed later by those under 60 and eventually those above 60 as well. She argued that one of the main achievements of the past 15 years has been creating a safe and predictable future for Hungarian families.
The state secretary also criticized the opposition Tisza Party, saying families have been the biggest beneficiaries of the government’s policies but would face the greatest risks under a different administration.
She claimed that the European Union is seeking contributions from member states to finance the war and support Ukraine, an initiative Hungary does not support. According to Koncz, if implemented domestically, such measures could cost households around 1.4 million forints each.
Speaking on Kossuth Radio, she also argued that the Tisza Party would abolish family tax allowances, end personal income tax exemptions for mothers, and remove childcare benefits used by more than 100,000 families.
Koncz said the government has built a stable system over the past decade and a half and insisted that maintaining and continuing the family support scheme depends on the current leadership, which she described as a reliable partner for Hungarian families.
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