Csaba Dömötör, State Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office, has hit back at US financier George Soros for “insulting Hungary”, citing US media reports that Soros had avoided paying taxes by tucking billions of dollars into his charity organization.
“George Soros is insulting Hungary again; this time by calling it a mafia state,” Dömötör wrote. “These sort of insults ring totally false from a billionaire who pays no taxes.” Citing recent press reports, Dömötör said Soros had managed to avoid paying federal income tax for three years. “Foundations play a key role in these tax evasion manoeuvres,” the state secretary said, adding that Soros had moved 18 billion dollars into his Open Society Foundations alone. “The Wall Street Journal is calling this transfer of wealth the single biggest tax dodge in US history.”
Meanwhile, Dömötör said, Soros was calling for others to pay more taxes. He cited the Project Syndicate website linked to Soros as calling corporate tax increases “the best solution” to the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. However, a low corporate tax rate is one of Hungary’s biggest competitive advantages, he added. “If he [Soros] attacks us a hundred times, we’ll defend ourselves a hundred times,” Dömötör said. “And we will add each time that an unelected tax-dodging godfather shouldn’t lecture us on democracy.”