Hungary’s tax system among the OECD leaders

Written by Rainer Ackermann

Hungary has moved up to 7th place in the Tax Foundation’s international ranking.

The Washington-based research institute analysed the competitiveness of tax systems in the 38 OECD member states. Hungary improved from 11th to 7th place compared to the previous year. As Finance Minister Mihály Varga emphasised in the social media, the country even took third place in the international tax environment sub-indicator, fourth place in the OECD competition with a uniform corporate tax rate of 9% and fifth place in the taxation of private individuals (mainly due to the low standard of 15% in income tax).

Varga recalled the premises of the Orbán government’s tax policy of reducing or simplifying taxes and pushing back the shadow economy. ‘We are continuing this policy by doubling the tax concessions for children in two stages,’ the Finance Minister noted. Varga deliberately concealed the fact that the continued tax increases in the banking and insurance business and at petrol pumps as well as the increasing administrative burden for accountants in the desired digitalisation work against these noble goals.