Taxation changes in Hungary reduced the amount of personal income tax collected by the National Tax and Customs Authority (NAV) by HUF 270.1bn to HUF 1,194.2bn in 2011 from a year earlier, NAV deputy chief Arpad Varga said at a press conference on Tuesday.
The average Hungarian paid 13.7pc of their earnings in personal income tax last year, down 2.5 percentage points from 2010, Mr Varga said.
Hungary introduced a 16pc flat-rate personal income tax and expanded family tax preferences last year.
More than 1,017,000 Hungarians, or 23.7pc of all personal income tax payers, availed of the family preferences last year, reducing their combined tax base by HUF 1,126.2bn. The flat rate translated as a HUF 180.2bn preference for this group.
At the same time, the number of private individuals ineligible for any tax preference rose to 763,000 from 532,000.
The number of Hungarians required to pay personal income tax fell by 147,000 to 3,343,000.
