The House Economy Committee yesterday put forward the planned property tax bill, which will be launched from next year.
No tax will be due for a property under the value of Ft 30 million if the owner lives in it. The tax rate will be 0.25% per year for properties worth over Ft 30 million, 0.3% for those valued between Ft 30 million and 50 million, and 0.5% for more expensive residences.
Second homes up to the value of Ft 15 million will be tax-free, and levies will be payable without exception on any additional properties.
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So if I own a home worth Ft 45 million, I’m going to pay a tax. If my neighbor owns a home worth Ft 30 million and a second home worth Ft 15 million, he doesn’t pay anything even though the combined worth of his homes are more than my primary residence? So I’m being punished for having one nice home instead of two thrashy homes?
A good way to kill any possible growth in the real estate market dead.
Knowing the culture over here it is likely that this will impose a glass ceiling on property values. That may seem ok in practice but try building a family home for less that 30 Million forints, you will definitely be in negative equity by the end.
I believe this will negatively impact the real estate housing market both in terms of growth, quality and variety.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating that unreasonable property values with an over-inflated market is good, but this seems to sit on economic growth unfortunately in a way that most HU governement policies and taxes do.
Actually, I own a home worth 37.5 million, so I’ll get taxed, but my neighbor down the street who owns 2 homes, won’t. And his two homes have a combined worth more than my one home.
I’m not against paying taxes, so long as everyone around me does, too.
attila that is just one of the logical ideas that turned surreal in hungary. picture this scenario: older apartments tend to be large and I own one of them along with other not so chic residents of V, VI, VII districts where government almighty determined property values at 350,000HUF/m2!!
so, because of the size of the apartment i now have a luxury home worth over the 30m mark, just like that at a strike of a pen.
what upsets more me you wonder? for starters all the close to or better than 1M/m2 add-ons and renovations along andrassy YET those properties will escape the barrier because those are smaller units and calculated at 350 will come in under 30M. so taxpayers, time to bend over and smile once more.
Interesting comments Klara. Time to grab the ankles then !
Attila, re-count your numbers, please. You said this: “So if I own a home worth Ft 45 million, I’m going to pay a tax. If my neighbor owns a home worth Ft 30 million and a second home worth Ft 15 million, he doesn’t pay anything even though the combined worth of his homes are more than my primary residence?”
No matter how I count this, 30+15=45, which would be the SAME EXACT 45 MILLION that your home would worth. But you claim above that the neighbor’s combined property value value would be MORE? Why is that, exactly?
Anyhow, how about handling your own taxes and not worry so much about what your neighbor does or pays? Of course, there is always the “slash thy neighbor’s car tyres” shortcut.
Property tax is DOA in Hungary. It will only increase corruption and the additional bureaucracy will cost more than it’s worth.
Attila, how much does your home worth, really? 45 million? 37.5 million? More? Less?
Nyalasi, to be honest I think you are splitting hairs on this one.
The point atilla is making here is that two people can have assets of very similar value and the tax burdern on one person can be considerably different to the other. The exact numbers are just an example.
I agree in some respect that someone elses tax is there concern, however, the tax system should be fair and unbiased particularly for people falling into essentially the same bracket. Not discussing it (i.e. divide and conquer) only really serves as a smoke screen in this case.
Can anyone tell me where I can find the rates per square meter for different districts.
JD, phew… What else can one say here, really.
“The point atilla is making here is that…”
LET ME COMPLETE THE SENTENCE HERE FOR YOU, JD; “… is that it is ATTILA who is making his point. NOT JD making it for him, see? Why, are you also “Attila” now, “JD?” Huh!?
And the point I had made was that using the $45M number, Attila’s discriminatory taxation argument holds no water, whereby using his other (revised) number, the 37.5M amount, it does. See?
But hey… if YOU don’t get it, then you just don’t, huh?
“Two people can have assets of very similar value and the tax burdern on one person can be considerably different to the other.”
MY TAKE: Ain’t life a regular bitch, JD? Tried telling this already to your local hanging judge, perhaps?
“I agree in some respect that someone elses tax is there concern, however, the tax system should be fair and unbiased.”
MY TAKE: Maybe you should move to Mayberry then, JD? Over there, I hear that everything is nice and rosy, fair and unbiased. But over here in the REAL WORLD, it just isn’t, see?
Finally, our mutual friend ANYNYMOUS asks: “Can anyone tell me where I can find the rates per square meter for different districts.”
May I suggest the following: just calculate HUF 1,000,000 per square meter and you should be okay and within budget. Granted, it could go up a little bit from there once they find out your are a foreigner…
Nyalasi, thanks for your input!
Anybody here with any serious comments to where I can find the rates per square meter for different districts. Thanks
You’re welcome, Bud. Yeah, HUF 1 million per square meter is a good rule of thumb these days in the better areas of Buda and Pest. If you cannot afford it, you might have to look around New York City or San Francisco then.
Now, granted, it you don’t mind living in the Pest outskirts where the crimimals and criminal gypsies live, you can get this price reduced by quite a bit.
If you could negotiate for whatever you would want to rent or purchase by using a Hungarian national, that would save you some dough, too. As soon as the landlord or seller finds out you are a foreigner, expect an instant hike of some 20% over what you had thought they said the thing would rent for or cost you initally.
Let us know what you end up getting and for how much.
I have to disagree with the negative statements
here. property tax is one of the few legit taxes
that should be imposed.
Have any of you noticed the state of decrepit
buildings that is ubiquitous in this country? Come
to Debrecen, where I live, and you’ll see some
nice development, but right next door there is a
literal slum of a building. There are quite a lot
of empty ‘second homes’ in disrepair. The reason?
There is no property tax.
Property tax does wonders for cities (Let’s leave
the argument of how the money WILL be spent for
another time). When I first moved here I laughed
in amazement that I was fined for not shoveling
the snow for the city’s sidewalk in front of my
house – that’s the city’s job as far as im
concerned – fuckers. I also have to pay for them
to pick up my garbage? WTF? that’s what property
tax is for.
Getting back to the shitty properties – owners
will be forced to cleanup or sell. Property comes
with responsibility. Now that there will be a cost
associated with it they’ll have to spruce them up
to rent out (leading to nicer neighborhoods).. or
sell to somebody who can.
Evil,
I agree, property tax can be useful, but not here, not now. Most Hungarians live on ridiculously low income, many of them could not afford to pay. Selling our real estate to foreigners and rent from them would be retarded. Let the economy gain some speed, clean up corruption, get rid of the insane bureaucracy, allow people to put some money in the bank, then maybe we can talk about property tax.
Godot, same old Godot, same old, same old….
Anon,
Are you trying to tell me something or you’re just having the same old mental breakdown?
Nyalasi, sorry I think we have our wires crossed. When I talk about rates per square meter for different districts, I am referrng to the property tax above. And if you are really interested I am looking at a property 10 minutes by tram from town in the 2nd district, at 380000 per square meter. So back to my question if anybody can help.
“When I talk about rates per square meter for different districts, I am referrng to the property tax above.”
Well, the article clearly states what the tax is going to be in Hungary, and on what particular value properties will this tax be assessed on, so I am not sure what part you still don’t understand about it?
Just by reading the article, I can tell what the tax is going to be and on what value real property it will be assessed to? You say you cannot figure it out, still?
And now, since Hungary is a small country, they probably won’t have different property tax rates depending the starting letter of a street’s name or postal code, you know what I’m saying? That would be too unwieldly to set up and run, I believe.
“I am looking at a property 10 minutes by tram from town in the 2nd district, at 380000 per square meter.”
MY TAKE: Now, that is dirt cheap indeed, I am not sure about the quality and the ‘hood, of course. Some of the 2nd District is quite all right, some parts of it less so. The 1,000,000 forint per square meter price I was quoting for you are for the allegedly “best” areas of Buda and Pest, namely the 1st District of Buda Castle, and prime sections of the 5th District on the Pest side.
Glad to be of help, Pardner.