The tourism department of the Ministry of Local Councils published a report on Monday stating that Hungary’s hotel and restaurant industry would lose HUF 18bn (EUR 60.08m) of its 2008 revenue of HUF 873bn if the planned three percentage-point increase in the VAT rate is implemented.
The VAT raise would equal a 2.5pc price hike, and tourism companies would not be able to pass this increase on to customers within the current economic environment.
Cutting pay-roll tax paid by the employers by 5 percentage points would result in savings of HUF 12bn based on wage expenditures of HUF 237bn, according to the report.
Lifting the tax exemption and charging a 19pc tax on village-accommodation and agrotourism services beginning on January 1, 2010, as planned, would lead to a net loss in revenue. The Central Statistics Office registered 6,482 enterprises dealing with village accommodations in 2007.
Revenue from food vouchers is currently HUF 300bn, which is equally distributed between cold and warm meal vouchers. Warm meal vouchers generate gross revenue of HUF 105-120bn. If the employer has to pay 62pc income tax and 27pc social security tax on 50pc of the vouchers’ value, it would result in a revenue decrease of HUF 53-60bn. This would effect 7.9-9.0pc of all restaurants and 65-74pc of workplace cafeterias.
If the government decides to charge taxes on vacation vouchers, it would decrease the total value of issued vouchers by HUF 16bn in 2010.
In 2008, Hungary’s hotels and restaurants generated revenue of HUF 873bn, 4pc of which stemmed from vacation vouchers.