Opposition Parties Criticise Internet Tax Proposal

Budapest (MTI) – The green opposition LMP party proposes that the state administration sector should switch over to using freeware to save money instead of introducing an internet tax.

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With the use of freeware, the government sector could save up to 40 billion forints (EUR 131m) on licence fees, double the amount originally targeted from the planned internet tax, LMP co-chair Bernadett Szel, MP Erzsebet Schmuck and economic policy spokesman Laszlo Heltai told MTI in a statement on Sunday, adding that they consider it unacceptable to tax the internet.

The radical nationalist Jobbik party also criticised the proposed internet tax, suggesting that revenue from the tax on advertising could be used to provide free internet for all households in Hungary. Jobbik deputy chairman Elod Novak said on Sunday that his party had already urged for the provision of free internet access up to a certain level of data transfer. Novak said the planned internet tax would place a substantial burden on the shoulders of internet users, create a major competitive disadvantage for the country and “declare war on the whole internet”.

Photo: splitshire.com

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters