Opposition cries foul over tax office changes

Budapest, December 2 (MTI) – The opposition Socialists, LMP and the radical nationalist Jobbik party on Wednesday criticised the government’s recent move of folding the tax authority NAV into the economy ministry.

The Socialists said with this move the government has taken the last step in building a “theft-based government”. Zoltan Lukacs, the party’s deputy leader, said when the Socialists will be in government “very strict” investigations will be launched into implicated officials’ assets.

Jobbik said the new tax office will be “Fidesz-friendly, not client-friendly”. Gyorgy Laszlo Lukacs said the government is “systematically poisoning the purity of public life”.

Andras Schiffer, co-leader of opposition LMP, said “Fidesz has broken the world record for sly legislation”.

Fidesz said in a statement that the opposition “from Gyurcsany through the Socialists to Jobbik” is full of corruption and it should not be giving lessons in public finances. The Socialist Istvan Jozsa had “pocketed” 7 billion forints (EUR 22.44m) from the Paks nuclear plant, while Ferenc Gyurcsany, who is still earning billions through a family business from Brussels, had also bagged 80 million forints in public funds.

Andras Tallai, economy ministry state secretary in charge of NAV’s restructuring, told a press conference earlier on Wednesday that there had been broad consensus among the authority’s staff on the need to streamline the tax authority to eliminate fragmentation and parallel operations. The changes also serve to ensure the uniform application of laws and eliminate delays in communication up to the level of decision-makers within the tax authority, he said.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters