Márton Nagy, Minister for Economic Development, said Hungary’s government will raise around HUF 800 billion (EUR 2.06bn) over the next two years from new windfall taxes imposed on banks, insurers, retail chains, energy companies, telcos and airlines.
According to MTI, Nagy said that with another economic crisis looming, it was crucial to build a resilient economy and keep the budget and state debt firmly in hand. The government is setting up a utilities protection fund and a defense fund which will be expensive to finance due to rising energy prices and the war in Ukraine. The government aims to raise an annual 300 billion forints from the banking sector, including HUF 50 billion by expanding the transactions duty, Nagy said. A total of HUF 50 billion will be collected from insurers and 300 billion from energy sector companies, with a large chunk to be collected from Hungarian oil and gas company MOL, the minister said. The government will collect HUF 60 billion from retailers, 40 billion from telcos, HUF 30 billion from airlines and HUF 20 billion forints from pharmaceutical sector companies, not including small pharmacies, he added. The government will also reintroduce the advertising tax from 2023, raising HUF 15 billion of budget revenue, Nagy said.
Photo credit: MTI