Budapest Mayor Has Bankrupted Capital, Says Finance Minister

Hungary Today 2023.07.19.

The Metropolitan Court of Justice rejected the action instituted by Gergely Karácsony, Mayor of Budapest, in which he tried to evade paying taxes, said Varga Mihály on his official social media page, reports Magyar Nemzet.

In a comment under the post, the Finance Minister explained:

As the richest municipality in the country, Budapest, like many other municipalities, has to pay solidarity contributions to poorer municipalities, in a total of 57.8 billion forints (EUR 154.2 M).”

Mihály Varga wrote, “The mayor of Budapest refuses to pay this amount, so he has appealed to the Metropolitan Court of Justice, which has now rejected the claim.”

The Finance Minister confirmed in his comment that

the municipality of the capital led by Gergely Karácsony inherited HUF 214 billion (EUR 571.2 M) in savings from the city government of István Tarlós in 2019, but they have now bankrupted the capital.

Despite the fact that the capital’s tax revenues are higher than ever before, its business tax revenues are expected to exceed HUF 271 billion (EUR 723.4 M) this year, he wrote.

Fact

The city council launched an administrative lawsuit in April against the Hungarian State, claiming that it has been subjected to illegal taxes, and that the solidarity tax is against the constitution. They do not recognize the legality of the solidarity tax, so they are only paying what they believe is due in taxes to the state. According to the mayor, instead of the roughly 58 billion forints imposed, only a third, around 20 billion forints (EUR 53.4 M) is legal. Therefore, the remaining amount will not be transferred.

In response to the court’s decision, Karácsony announced on his official Facebook page today, that the capital will appeal against it.

Featured image: MTI/Tibor Illyés