Organisations supporting migration to pay 25 pc immigration tax

The tax bill to be submitted to parliament later on Tuesday contains a 25 percent immigration tax to be paid by organisations supporting migration, the finance ministry said on Tuesday.

The government seeks to employ all possible methods to protect the country from illegal migration, the ministry said in a statement. Tax policy measures are a part of the effort besides the border fence, new border protection laws and the “Stop Soros” package of bills, the statement said.

Protection against illegal migration is a substantial burden on the Hungarian budget and therefore to Hungarian citizens, the ministry said.

The government proposes that, according to the principle of equal taxation, organisations helping migration should bear their share of that burden by paying a 25 percent special tax, it said.

The finance ministry will submit its proposal for 2019 tax changes later on Tuesday, Mihály Varga, the finance minister, said. Varga said that the package “contains the most changes of all times aimed at simplifying taxation”.

If the package is passed into law, the proposed tax cuts will leave several hundred billion forints with taxpayers, he added.

Under the proposal, the personal income tax will be kept at 15 percent, and the corporate business tax at 9 percent, Varga said.

The tax benefits for families with children will be raised further, Varga said. For example he mentioned that families with two children will enjoy a monthly benefit of 40,000 forints (EUR 123), raised from 35,000 forints this year, which will help 380,000 families save a total 20 billion forints next year.

The social security tax for companies will be cut from 19.5 percent to 17.5 percent, leaving a total 130 billion forints with businesses, Varga said.

The value added tax of heat-treated UHT and ESL milk will also be reduced from 27 percent to 5 percent, Varga said.

Source: MTI