Ryanair receives gigantic fine in Hungary!
Hungary’s customer protection authority has fined low-cost airline Ryanair 300 million forints (EUR 765,000) for “misleading customers through its dishonest business practices”, Justice Minister Judit Varga said on Facebook on Monday.
The authority had launched proceedings against the airline company on June 10 on suspicion of transferring the windfall tax to customers, the minister noted, adding that her ministry had monitored the process.
Varga reiterated the government’s earlier pledge “to protect the Hungarian people” and initiate customer protection proceedings each time a company tried to pass its extra-profit tax burden onto consumers. “Wartime inflation and the economic situation requires multinational companies earning excessive profits to contribute their share in financing the utility price cap programme and national defence,” Varga said.
In the meantime, VAT continues, unabated, at a Europe leading whopping 27 percent. VAT applies to almost EVERY PURCHASE and is paid by the ultimate Customer (businesses can generally recover). VAT then funds our Europe’s lowest 9 percent corporate income tax rate…
So much for “protecting the Hungarian People”. Ignorance is bliss!
Ryanair is registered in Dublin, the Republic of Ireland. This fine will be a tax write off ie. deductible and therefore no skin of off its nose. The only losers here are the Irish taxpayers. As for “misleading customers through its dishonest business practices”, it is the Hungarian government that are doing that. This extra tax on airlines is Air Passenger Duty also known as Departure Tax or sometimes Airport Tax plain and simple and is always added to the base ticket price in every country that levies it. I sincerely hope that the CEO of Ryanair gives the Hungarian government the finger and stops all Ryanair flights to and from Budapest. Passengers flying into Budapest from say Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom pay an aviation tax for the journey to Budapest, a tax added on to the base price and included in the final price. What makes the Hungarian government think that it should be any different in how it implements this tax? Typical arrogance by the mobsters in charge of the country.
Concur – Jet.
We continue to witness LAUGHABLE use of the Law, by the Hungarian Government.
The legal actions they instigate are HYPOCRITICAL – of the core values they operate/function as a “Dictatorial” agended Government.
Jet – correctly wrote it, that Ryanair – the CEO will when it suits Ryanair – “pull out” of Budapest.
This is ANOTHER example – of a relationship – we have known about for months that has been destroyed & shattered, by the present Fidesz Party led Government, under its Leader and present Prime Minister of Hungary – Victor Orban.
The brand name Hungary continues to be – SOILED – sadly.
@Norbert, the tax that Mrs. Varga is referencing ends up in the one (1) percent bucket in the right-most bar chart on Page 2:
https://www.oecd.org/tax/revenue-statistics-hungary.pdf
The real money spinners in Hungary are social security contributions and VAT, payroll taxes to a lesser extent (in absolute terms).
This levy appears to be more for show than anything else!