The foreign minister said that as a result of a single-bracket tax system introduced in 2010 and the lowest taxes in Europe, Hungary now has a record high employment and economic growth, as well as record high volumes of exports and investments.
In The Bold Truth about Hungary podcast on Sunday, the foreign minister told Zoltán Kovács, the state secretary for international communications and relations, that the global minimum tax would “certainly not” increase the competitiveness of the European or the global economy.
Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said that as a result of a single-bracket tax system introduced in 2010 and the lowest taxes in Europe, Hungary now has a record high employment and economic growth, as well as record high volumes of exports and investments. The reason why the government opposed the introduction of the global minimum tax was “to avoid returning to the pre-2010 situation”, Minister Szijjártó said. He said that the government would not have given its consent to the adoption of the minimum tax without “written guarantees” [by the European Commission] that Hungary would not be forced to raise taxes in addition to the current tax system and that the business tax could be incorporated. On another topic, Minister Szijjártó said “after more than 40 years it is high time for Hungary to send another astronaut to space”. Referring to cooperation with US company Axiom on the space project, he said eight candidates had been selected from among several hundred volunteers, out of whom four would receive full training before the actual candidate is selected right before the mission.
Watch the full episode of The Bold Truth About Hungary: