Despite Losing Business to Flat Tax Neighbors, Hungarian Politicians Clinging to High Tax Rates
The Budapest Times has a feature story noting that many of Hungary’s neighbors have simple and fair flat tax system and wondering whether the nation can afford to retain a system base on high tax rates:
Bulgaria and Albania joined Russia, Slovakia, Romania and nine other Central and Eastern European countries by adopting a flat tax system at the beginning of the year. Four of Hungary’s seven neighbours have already chosen the flat tax option. In fact, flat tax is now the preferred system among the post‐communist economies of Central and Eastern Europe. Is Hungary – already suffering the lowest rate of economic growth of the new EU member states – in danger of being left behind? …To western Europeans, this may sound like the utopian stunt of a madman, but in fact flat tax policies – until recently little more than a theoretical notion dreamt up by economists – have rapidly caught on in the developing economies of central and Eastern Europe since Estonia opted for the novel system in 1994.
In addtion to explaining how the flat tax improves tax compliance, the article notes that many companies are relocating in Slovakia because that country’s tax system is much more conducive to productive activity. The Hungarian fiscal system, by contrast, is very punitive:
With a flat rate of tax, regardless of how much a person earns, he pays the same proportion of his wage to the state. With progressive tax, a pay rise can lead to an increase in the percentage claimed by the government. …a simple, low‐rate tax which is easy to collect and difficult to evade is likely to raise more money than a high‐rate tax system that is full of loopholes and which nobody fully understands. …Compare Hungary with Slovakia. Hungary’s northern neighbour has opted for the purest of flat tax systems. Employers’ and employees’ income tax contributions are fixed at 19%, as is corporate tax and even VAT. Thousands of Hungarian companies have already relocated their headquarters to Hungarian‐speaking southern Slovakia – not only are taxes lower, but accounting has been made child’s play. Hungarian employers must pay 16% income tax and 29% social security on payroll, while employees pay between 18% and 36% income tax plus a host of social and other contributions. The net result of this is that the government receives up to double what the employee takes home.
Even though Hungary’s growth rate is sluggish and the nation is losing jobs and investment to other nations with better tax systems, the politicians are stubbornly refusing to join the flat tax revolution. This is bad news for Hungary’s workers:
The small, conservative opposition party the Hungarian Democratic Forum has long been calling for the adoption of a flat tax model. Party leader Ibolya Dávid argued last year, when the Czech Republic chose to follow its southern neighbour Slovakia into the flat tax world, that Hungary risks losing out in the battle for foreign investment and lagging behind if it does not follow suit. …Earlier this year, it was reported that two of four possible alternatives included the adoption of a flat tax model. However, last week Magyar Hírlap reported that the cabinet working group had ruled out any such move.
