Budapest has “stable finances” and is expected to support less affluent municipalities “based on a formula applied in other localities”, a state secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office told MTI on Thursday.
Balázs Orbán spoke in defence of plans to raise local governments’ “solidarity tax” and said that proposals to amend this year’s budget and the 2021 budget bill were focused on protection against the novel coronavirus.
Budapest is Hungary’s “richest” municipality, which receives the highest state subsidies and has been a “net beneficiary of government policies in the past ten years”, Orbán said. He insisted that the city’s per capita gains were “much higher” than other cities’, while Budapest contributed less to funds aimed at “poorer” cities.
Apart from Budapest, 134 “rich” cities are required to pay a solidarity tax, but Budapest has so far enjoyed a 60 percent reduction from its payments, the state secretary said. “In light of the (costs of) coronavirus protection, this cannot continue; every rich municipality must contribute its fair share,” he insisted.
“Other municipalities have accepted this principle, whether led by the ruling parties or the opposition. No other city has requested such preferential treatment but Budapest,” Orbán said.
Featured photo by Tibor Illyés/MTI