Jobbik calls for more housing market VAT cuts

 Jobbik party has called on the government to expand the preferential 5 percent VAT rate on home construction to the entire housing market with a view to boosting supply.

The 5 percent VAT rate on newly-built homes was introduced at the beginning of 2016. It had been reduced from 27 percent.

Finance Minister Mihály Varga recently said that the preferential rate would not be extended to 2019, noting that it was meant to be temporary from the start.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Jobbik deputy leader Dániel Z Kárpát called on the government to uphold the measure and to explore the possibility of expanding the 5 percent VAT rate to also cover used properties and home renovation.

Z Kárpát said he agreed with Varga that foreign real estate investors were attempting to “skim” the preferential VAT rate, adding, at the same time, that this could be blocked with the use of the right economic policy measures.

“Faults in the system should be fixed by approving proposals that will make it better, not by scrapping the entire system,” Z Kárpát said.

Jobbik’s proposal to expand the reduced VAT rate to the entire housing market aims to boost supply in Budapest and rural Hungary, he said.

Source: MTI