Response to Orbán’s announcement: the association of local governments has protested

Viktor Orbán’s announcement to cut the business tax in half without any substantial consultation may result in the execution of Hungarian self-government and the inevitable bankruptcy of many Hungarian settlements, said György Gémesi, president of the Association of Hungarian Local Governments (MÖSZ), Mayor of Gödöllő looked at.

“It is immeasurably repulsive” that “the prime minister is using a coronavirus epidemic that has killed thousands of Hungarians to settle scores with municipalities not run by Fidesz,” says György Gémesi.

The business tax represents the majority of local government revenue, of which the municipalities operate public services, from public lighting to waste management, through road maintenance and metropolitan public transport, from where they provide social services , child welfare and health.

The president of MÖSZ also made demands on behalf of the association. They claim that

• the government does not make any decision on municipal revenue without an agreement with the municipal associations,
• suspend the decision on corporation tax until the municipal consultation scheduled for January 15,
• the government to develop a transparent, clean and politically free system to support and compensate local governments,
• That the government negotiate on the fund with the municipal associations the reduction of taxes paid by local governments to the state to face the economic crisis,
• the government will involve local governments in the distribution of crisis management assistance provided by the European Union to Hungary.

If the government “continues to use the dire health and economic situation caused by the epidemic to bleed the settlements and local governments, then any legal form of protest is justified and necessary for the Hungarian local governments and the citizens living in our settlements” .