Time has run out to make any changes to the property tax law which was thrown out by the Constitutional Court, Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said on Wednesday.
In the next few weeks the government will review the budget reserves and make plans accordingly, Bajnai said. A decision will made on how to replace the lost revenue, he added.
The real-estate part of the property tax law, dismissed as unconstitutional, was expected to have brought in revenues of around 50 billion forints this year.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of Hungary’s tax authority APEH announced that individuals that had already paid the new tax would get a refund. APEH has already received some property tax returns, and the authority is now surveying the exact figures, Agnes Bakonyi said.
Well this ridiculous tax would have brought less than 200 million € – but just assessing the value of each house in Hungary, how much would that have cost ?
It’s crazy how tax people or rather politicians think.
Germany has also had some of these silly taxes where it costs more to get them than what they bring in, some are still being paid:
Coffee tax (around 2 € per kilo)
Pezsgö tax
Gyufa tax
Dog tax
and the list goes on …
Maybe APEH could use the German example to find new ways of taxation …