Hungary to impose wealth tax on the richest people starting next year

Starting next year, Hungary will introduce a wealth tax on people with assets exceeding 67 million forints — a measure that was one of the election promises of the Tisza party, which won a decisive victory in April's parliamentary elections and ended sixteen years of uninterrupted rule by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party.

The new tax targets primarily oligarchs who have amassed wealth over the past sixteen years thanks to their ties to Orbán's government. Tisza leader Péter Magyar, according to the website telex.hu, told voters at a meeting in the southeastern city of Szolnok: "It's possible that the tax on people with assets exceeding 500 billion forints (over 33 billion crowns) will end up higher than the planned one percent." According to this year's Forbes ranking of Hungary's wealthiest people, three businessmen fall into the category of those holding assets above 500 billion forints.

The one-percent tax will apply to all assets — both in Hungary and abroad. Taxable property will include real estate, motor vehicles, yachts, private jets, artworks, cash and bank deposits, precious metals, securities and other investments — including pension savings, company shares, receivables, crypto assets and life insurance policies.

According to Forbes, Hungary's richest man is Lőrinc Mészáros, the former mayor of Felcsút, the village where Prime Minister Orbán himself grew up: his fortune is estimated at the equivalent of roughly 107 billion crowns. He is followed by OTP Bank chief Sándor Csányi (55 billion crowns) and MPF Holding owner Zsolt Felcsuti (40 billion crowns). In thirteenth place is Orbán's son-in-law István Tiborcz, with an estimated fortune of 13 billion crowns.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz