Socialists criticise draft tax package, call on gov’t to withdraw internet tax proposal
Budapest (MTI) – The government’s recently announced draft tax legislation package could raise families’ monthly expenses by up to 10,000 forints next year, Socialist MP Ildiko Borbely Bango said on Saturday.
The Socialist politician said the higher tax rate on cafeteria items that employers can give their employees as part of remuneration, such as food vouchers, public transport passes, health fund and voluntary pension fund contributions, etc., could increase workers’ monthly expenses by up to 4,000. She said the government plans to impose a product fee on everyday consumer goods such as soap, shampoo, washing detergent and deodorant. These cosmetics are not luxury items, she said, but their cost accounts for a considerable part of families’ monthly outgoings, she added.
All the above does not even include the planned internet tax, the Socialist MP said.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, head of the Socialist party Jozsef Tobias called on the government to withdraw its internet tax proposal. Tobias said the government wants to restrict access to knowledge, information and the experience of freedom with the new tax. He said today the internet is the only alternative medium of opinion and information flow and therefore it is unacceptable that the government should “take away the future, access to knowledge and the terrain of free thinking and freedom of opinion.”
Tobias said the Socialists propose instead that the government should use the 100 billion forints raised through the recent sale of mobile telecommunications frequency bands to launch developments expanding wifi access in public spaces.
Ferenc Baja, chairman of the party’s internet and communications section said the European Union commissioner also disagrees with the proposal, which Baja believes is contrary to the community’s fundamental principles and rules.
Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters
please make a donation here
Hot news
Have the wages of manual workers skyrocketed in Hungary?
Orbán cabinet: ‘Witch hunt’ against Hungarian companies ongoing in Ukraine
What happened today in Hungary? – 22 April, 2024
New Hungarian president perfectly repeats the foreign policy guidelines of the Orbán cabinet
PM Orbán’s political director: EU now super state where independent viewpoints ‘are quashed’
Hungarian foreign minister: EU ‘preparing for world war’ in response to critical military situation in Ukraine