The Hungarian government's 25 percent immigration tax could be introduced by late summer if parliament passes the bill.
During an interview with daily Magyar Idők, András Tállai, the Ministry of Finance’s parliamentary state secretary, stressed that the costs incurred to the state and to the Hungarian people as a result of the activities of organizations that assist immigration must be recovered.
The secretary pointed out that the state has spent in the order of one hundred billion forints (300 million EUR) on preventing illegal migration to date.
He explained that the new surcharge will be payable in relation to financial support, such as bank transfers and the sum or value of goods received. Revenues from the immigration surcharge will flow into the central budget and will be used exclusively to fund tasks relating to border protection.
According to the proposal, the surtax will primarily be payable by organizations that assist immigration, only becoming liable to pay the tax if the providers of funding fail to fulfil their obligations.