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DK CALLS ON GOVT TO SCRAP SPECIAL RETAIL TAX

 

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) has called on the government to scrap a special tax on retail firms, saying it was forcing businesses to raise prices. DK spokesman Balázs Barkóczi told an online press conference that the retail tax, introduced during the state of emergency because of the novel coronavirus epidemic, has “caused a 47 forint rise in the price of petrol per litre” on average, hitting transporters and suppliers especially hard. Barkóczi insisted that, while other European governments “do everything in their power” to ease the economic damage caused by the pandemic, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government “has come up with the smallest package possible and calls it crisis management”. Meanwhile, the government “is giving nothing to families, those losing their jobs or the elderly,” he said. The special tax is payable by those with annual net revenues over 500 million forints (EUR 1.4m). Companies with annual revenues between 500 million forints and 30 billion would pay 0.1% on net sales, while revenues between 30 billion and 100 billion would be taxed at 0.4%. Revenues above that would be taxed at 2.5%.