Hungarian Conservative

The minister noted a ruling by Hungary’s Supreme Court, declaring that Budapest could not be even partially exempt from its obligation to pay its taxes. Varga said if the Budapest city council failed to meet its obligations, the government ‘will follow the given legal provisions along the clear decisions taken by the judiciary’.

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.

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.

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.

It looks like the Biden government may end up not being able to push its anti-growth tax cartel idea through anyway, beside finding that it is very difficult to coerce the Hungarian Prime Minister into doing anything that he does not feel coincides with the interests of the Hungarian people.

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.