LMP slams bill on putting details of donations, tax rebates under shroud of secrecy

Budapest, October 11 (MTI) – The opposition LMP party has said that a bill submitted to parliament by Economy Minister Mihály Varga which seeks to put details of donations and donation tax rebates under a shroud of secrecy is a way for the government to cover up donations to its “strategic partners”.

At a news conference on Tuesday, co-leaders Bernadett Szél and Ákos Hadházy also complained that the bill was being fast-tracked.

The total amount of donations each taxpayer makes as well as the total amount each beneficiary receives will not be classified as a tax secret under the bill. But the details of each donation a taxpayer makes or each donation a beneficiary receives will be thus classified. This detailed data “belongs to the private and business sectors”, according to the bill.

Should the bill be fast-tracked, as it could be later today, then LMP will turn to the Constitutional Court for a review, Szél said.

Hadházy urged the government to apply equal standards to multinationals and small and medium-sized firms. He added that in a normal country tax laws take decades to change, whereas in Hungary these are changed in the space of a single day.

On Monday, opposition and ruling Fidesz party members of parliament’s legislative committee later clashed over the bill’s planned fast-tracked passage.

Sándor Burány of the Socialists said fast-tracking was uncalled for, arguing that the state budget was not in danger. He also said the bill would classify some 800 billion forints (EUR 2.6bn) worth of transfers as tax secrets. Corporate tax reliefs are public funds, he said, adding that certain entrepreneurs make donations to some government members’ favourite soccer teams in the form of “bartering”.