Hungarian tax office APEH collected HUF 34.9bn in duties in the first quarter, data on the office’s website reveal. Duties collected rose 7pc over the same period a year earlier, Econews calculated.
Households paid 59pc of duties in the first quarter and businesses paid 41pc, in line with the earlier trend.
Duties on property sales generated the most revenue, bringing in HUF 27.0bn, 14pc more than in the same period a year earlier. Duties on vehicle sales APEH collected fell 20pc to HUF 4.5bn, though the drop was not as steep as the 31pc decline in January-February. APEH collected HUF 1.8bn in duties on inheritance and gifts and HUF 1.0bn in duties paid for state procedures.
HUF 19.4bn of the duties collected will go to the central budget, about HUF 15.0bn will go to local councils and around HUF 0.5bn will be refunded to clients.
Question here is was the increase in property sales driven by distress or natural market growth. The need to unload property elsewhere during a recession is in relation to cutting costs, moving out of what one cannot afford. In HU this isn’t necessarily the case especially on older premises as many are in accomodation that they inherited from the socialist changeover. If this is increase reflects rising mortgage payments, then this is a natural outcome of a squeeze on disposable income.