Hungarian FinMin: Opposition budget amendment proposals would entail HUF 3,200 bn bigger tax bill

Left-wing amendment proposals to the 2024 budget would add a tax bill of HUF  3,200 billion (EUR 8.63bn) on top of current plans, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said on Wednesday.

Varga said in a video posted on Facebook that budget spending would overshoot by HUF 6,528 billion and entail extra taxes amounting to 3,200 billion, hitting businesses the hardest. Corporate taxes would balloon to 25 percent from 9 percent, making companies shoulder several thousand billion forints of extra tax payments, he said.

The opposition’s uncosted proposals, he added, would mean spending reserves of 200 billion forints eight times over, raising the budget shortfall from 2.9 percent to more than 10 percent.

Varga said the government’s 2024 budget was focused on ensuring the country’s security in times of war, protecting families, pensions, jobs and cheap utilities, while enabling further cuts to the budget deficit and the public debt in Hungary.

Arbitrary extra spending proposed by the left-wing opposition would put these achievements at grave risk, he said.

Source: MTI