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National Review: Hungary Being Bullied by EU and US to Raise Corporate Taxes

Barbara Bene 2022.09.22.

Several media outlets have reported in the past few weeks how the European Union is trying to find a way to introduce the global minimum tax without Hungary’s consent. Hungary has vetoed the measure and stood up against it several times, angering the liberal-left.

As National Review reports, there are attempts to punish Hungary financially because the country’s “nationalist government” is “undermining the bloc’s Democratic values.” However, according to the American newspaper, “these are laughable claims” and the assault on Hungary actually has nothing to do with these so-called Democratic values.

According to the article,

Hungary is being targeted now because it has “courageously decided to stand up for its national sovereignty and has refused to join the tax cartel concocted by Biden, Treasury secretary Janet Yellen, and the EU.”

The global minimum tax would raise the countries’ tax rates to a global minimum of 15 percent. However, Hungary has vetoed to introduce it in the European Union which would need a unanimous vote on the matter. Because of that, the EU is reportedly trying to find a way to get the measure accepted without Hungary by using the enhanced cooperation procedure.

As Hungary Today reported earlier, under this procedure, at least nine EU Member States are allowed to establish enhanced integration or cooperation in a specific area within the EU, if it is established that the objectives of such cooperation cannot be achieved by the EU as a whole within a reasonable timeframe.

Brussels Considering Overriding Hungarian Veto on Global Minimum Tax
Brussels Considering Overriding Hungarian Veto on Global Minimum Tax

The European Commission would use the enhanced cooperation procedure.Continue reading

As the article in the National Review highlights, Hungary has one of the lowest tax rates besides a few Caribbean countries, which could be the reason why “European leaders want them out.”

However, the United States so far has not introduced the global minimum tax either, and with the mid-term elections coming up in November, a shift may come in politics.

Republicans with Viktor Orbán against Global Minimum Tax
Republicans with Viktor Orbán against Global Minimum Tax

Leading politicians accused the Biden administration of bullying Hungary’s government.Continue reading

According to the National Review, if Republicans take over Congress next January, they should withdraw from the “tax cartel” and the measure should be treated “like an international treaty requiring two-thirds vote of the US Senate for ratification.”

Featured photo via Pexels


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