The numbers are staggering. Tisza wants to squeeze at least HUF 3.7 trillion more out of Hungarian companies every year. That’s not a typo—it’s a seismic shift, aimed squarely at wealth, entrepreneurship, and the productive class. The philosophy? Make the state bigger, slower, and hungrier. Let working Hungarians fund the utopia.
Let’s start with the crown jewel: a 6.5 percent annual wealth tax on anyone with over HUF 500 million in assets. That includes everything from real estate and securities to art, antiques, and even luxury goods. If it moves and has value, it’ll be taxed. It doesn’t stop there. Tisza would slap the same 6.5 percent tax on all assets held in non-EU countries, with no minimum threshold. Own a modest flat in Belgrade or inherited land in Serbia? Congratulations, you’re now an enemy of the people.
Next in line are businesses. While Hungary’s 9 percent corporate tax has helped build Europe’s most competitive investment environment, Tisza would tear it down brick by brick. Insurers, for instance, would pay 20 percent of their profits into a “solidarity fund,” a euphemism for funding bloated state redistribution schemes. SMEs? Don’t even ask.
Tisza’s plan guts the simplified tax systems—EKHO eliminated, KIVA suffocated. In their place comes a new micro-tax for startups, but only for two years. After that? Welcome to the full force of a tax office that now sees you as a revenue source, not a citizen. This alone means a greater burden, amounting to HUF 90 billion, on Hungary’s smallest, most vulnerable businesses.
And if you thought you could escape the claws of the taxman through clever accounting—think again. VAT refunds? Limited to investments only. Daily operations, like purchasing stock for a shop or ingredients for a restaurant, would no longer be eligible for reclaiming VAT during the year. Oh, and end-of-year reporting will now require inventory lists broken down by VAT category. Because nothing says growth like hiring accountants instead of employees.
As if that weren’t enough, Tisza’s bureaucrats have cooked up a whole new package of payroll taxes—five of them, to be exact. From a 5 percent health maintenance fee to a 2.5 percent pension solidarity levy, the cost of employing anyone in Hungary would rise dramatically. All of this to support the same state systems they now propose to expand beyond recognition.
But the pièce de résistance? A “child protection contribution”—1.5 percent of net revenue imposed on every company, every church, and even civil associations. Whether you turn a profit or not, whether you’re a multinational or a village NGO, you’ll pay. That’s not solidarity. That’s confiscation.
In sum, this isn’t a tax plan. It’s a manifesto. A road map to transform Hungary from a nation of builders and savers into one ruled by redistribution, regulation, and foreign influence. This is what the Brussels elite have always wanted—a Hungarian government that does what it’s told, taxes who it’s told, and abandons national sovereignty in favor of technocratic obedience.
Fortunately, the Hungarian people have seen this movie before. And they know how it ends. The choice remains: Build a strong, competitive, sovereign Hungary, or hand the keys to those who take their orders from elsewhere—and your tax dollars with them.