Hungary Makes Parties, Foreign Firms, Banks Pay For Virus Impacts

Hungary said Saturday that multinational firms, banks, political parties and local councils must pay up to combat the economic fallout of the novel coronavirus

Budapest, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2020 ) :Hungary said Saturday that multinational firms, banks, political parties and local councils must pay up to combat the economic fallout of the novel coronavirus.

A package of special taxes and obligatory contributions to an emergency fund are part of an economic "action plan" to fight the impacts of the virus, said Gergely Gulyas, a minister in Prime Minister Viktor Orban's cabinet.

The government is reallocating 3.7 billion Euros ($4 billion) of the state budget to the fund, but is also "obliging multinationals, political parties, banks and municipalities to share the burden," Gulyas told a press briefing in Budapest.

Special taxes will be levied on multinational firms and banks that will pay into a rescue fund of approximately 100 million euros ($110 million) and 150 million euros ($160 million) respectively, said Gulyas, without providing further details.

Municipalities must transfer part of their vehicle tax revenue to the fund while political parties must pay in half of their annual public funding (contributing around 3.2 million euros in total to the fund).

The measures are a blow for cash-strapped opposition political parties who have been hit with heavy fines by state auditors in recent years.

Municipalities, including a raft of districts won nationwide by opposition parties in a surprise blow for Orban last year, have also since seen their state funding allocations and scope of powers squeezed in recent months.