Economy
Hungary mulls levy on telephone, Internet usage
The package is on its way
The portal learned the cabinet could approve the updated Convergence Programme comprising the new revenue-boosting measures next Wednesday. It will need to send the document to Brussels by 30 April. Budapest will need to present a credible plan to plug the holes in the budget, which the European Commission estimates at HUF 150 bn in 2012 and HUF 400 bn next year.
One of the elements of this package is the financial transaction tax which would be slapped on cash withdrawal from ATMs, the transfer of the monthly salary onto a bank account, direct debit and utility fee clearance by payment slips ("sárga csekk" or "yellow cheque"). As Portfolio.hu said earlier, in this form the new levy would be not (only) a burden on financial institutions but effectively a new VAT - or personal income tax.Some ministry sources say the cabinet hopes to collect HUF 100-200 billion from the transaction tax, while others estimate revenues from the new levy at HFU 250 bn, origo.hu said. The revamping of the public transport system is to save the budget HUF 10-15 bn and ministries and municipalities could be ordered to save another HUF 40 bn.
Yet another new tax
These measures, however, would still not be enough to plug the hole in the budget therefore, as origo learned today, the Economy Ministry is proposing to tax telephone usage - fixed-line or mobile - and Internet traffic. This should fatten state coffers by HUF 40-50 bn, according to ministry estimates.
The new tax would work as the transaction tax, i.e. it would be billed by the service providers but the end users would foot the bill. The sources were unable to provide information about the rate of the tax and whether it would be payable on data traffic or on a time basis (per minute).
According to origo.hu’s sources, the ministry shared these plans with a European Commission delegation that visited Budapest on Monday and Tuesday. The EC asked the ministry staff to underpin its revenue estimates with detailed calculations, that is what the EcoMin is working on right now. The composition of the Convergence Programme greatly depends on what Commission Presdient José Manuel Barroso will tell PM Viktor Orbán when they meet next Monday.
The portal learned the cabinet could approve the updated Convergence Programme comprising the new revenue-boosting measures next Wednesday. It will need to send the document to Brussels by 30 April. Budapest will need to present a credible plan to plug the holes in the budget, which the European Commission estimates at HUF 150 bn in 2012 and HUF 400 bn next year.
One of the elements of this package is the financial transaction tax which would be slapped on cash withdrawal from ATMs, the transfer of the monthly salary onto a bank account, direct debit and utility fee clearance by payment slips ("sárga csekk" or "yellow cheque"). As Portfolio.hu said earlier, in this form the new levy would be not (only) a burden on financial institutions but effectively a new VAT - or personal income tax.Some ministry sources say the cabinet hopes to collect HUF 100-200 billion from the transaction tax, while others estimate revenues from the new levy at HFU 250 bn, origo.hu said. The revamping of the public transport system is to save the budget HUF 10-15 bn and ministries and municipalities could be ordered to save another HUF 40 bn.
Yet another new tax
These measures, however, would still not be enough to plug the hole in the budget therefore, as origo learned today, the Economy Ministry is proposing to tax telephone usage - fixed-line or mobile - and Internet traffic. This should fatten state coffers by HUF 40-50 bn, according to ministry estimates.
The new tax would work as the transaction tax, i.e. it would be billed by the service providers but the end users would foot the bill. The sources were unable to provide information about the rate of the tax and whether it would be payable on data traffic or on a time basis (per minute).
According to origo.hu’s sources, the ministry shared these plans with a European Commission delegation that visited Budapest on Monday and Tuesday. The EC asked the ministry staff to underpin its revenue estimates with detailed calculations, that is what the EcoMin is working on right now. The composition of the Convergence Programme greatly depends on what Commission Presdient José Manuel Barroso will tell PM Viktor Orbán when they meet next Monday.
