Government backs out of ad tax proposal, says Jobbik

Budapest, April 6 (MTI) – In wake of the “scandal” around recently passed rules impacting Budapest’s Central European University, the government has “retired” and parliament has taken off its agenda a proposal aimed at introducing an advertisement tax, Jobbik group leader János Volner said on Thursday.

The proposed tax would have destroyed all media not benefitting from state publicity, Volner told a press conference. He suggested that the proposal was aimed at forcing private owners to get rid of their media outlets, which he said was equal to an attack against press freedom.

Volner noted that the advertisement had been levied in Hungary once before, in 2014, but parliament was obliged to scrap the law under a decision by the European Commission. He added that the measure had seriously impacted commercial TV channel RTL Klub, the “only major commercial TV the government has not been able to acquire yet”.

https://dailynewshungary.com/taxation-government-clashes-domestic-media-industry/

Source: MTI