Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister’s chief of staff, told a regular press briefing that by changing the rules of the small business tax (kata), the government has eliminated an opportunity for taxpayers to “bypass the original aim” of the kata system.
According to MTI, Gulyás said that the kata tax, introduced in 2012, was aimed at offering a flat tax to small local service providers. Ninety percent of the first 100,000 kata taxpayers were such entrepreneurs, but now two-thirds of kata payers receive income from companies rather than being employed, he insisted. Gulyás called it “unacceptable” that while people in the kata system paid a flat tax of 50,000 forints (EUR 122) a month, a hospital nurse paid a monthly 184,000 forints in taxes. He insisted that the changes had not been aimed to improve the central budget but to eliminate discrepancies between the amounts paid by taxpayers. He also said changes in future tax revenues would depend on what form of taxation payers quitting the kata system would choose. All options will involve a higher tax burden than kata, he said, but they will “still pay less than a teacher or nurse”, he said.
Photo credit: MTI