Hungarians Pay State Tax Until Mid-July

Budapest, May 8 (MTI) – Hungary’s “tax liberation day”, the date from when the typical taxpayer keeps his earnings and stops paying the state, is on July 16, business daily Vilaggazdasag said today.

The paper cited a report prepared by Ernst and Young which ranks the 27 European Union member states by their tax liberation days. Cyprus came out first, with March 21 being the date when taxpayers can start keeping their earnings and Belgium in last place on August 5.

The study, published for the fifth consecutive year, is published by New Direction – Foundation for the European Reform and Institut economique Molinari (IEM) with data provided by EY.

“Belgium has held its position since 2011 when Hungary, previously the most severe tax collector, implemented a flat tax scheme” the report said.

Still, despite this improvement, Hungary is fourth from last on the list.

“Flat tax policies have offered considerable tax relief to workers – notably in Hungary, where a new 16 percent rate has pushed that country’s tax liberation day forward by 21 days since 2011. However, total taxes remain higher in “flat tax” countries (46.34 percent) than in “progressive” systems (44.98 percent) – a gap that has widened since 2011.”