“The Metropolitan Court did not allow the Hungarian State Treasury to collect the taxes that Gergely Karacsony refuses to pay, which would support poor settlements, until the order to close the second-stage proceedings was announced. The Treasury received the order to close the second-stage proceedings on October 17. The Ministry of Finance wrote on Friday in response to Index’s inquiry: “From that date onwards, there was no legal impediment for the Hungarian State Treasury to file a collection order.”
as it’s known:
- According to the city’s deputy mayor, Ambros Kiss, only 4 billion HUF were left in the capital’s account as of Thursday morning. Background of the case: Gergely Karacsony announced in June that Budapest would appeal against the first court decision in the Solidarity contribution case. According to Karacsony, in a substantive lawsuit, the DC can prove why the amount and collection of the solidarity contribution is illegal.
- Afterwards, Mihaly Varga was quick to remind the mayor that there were still 113 billion Hungarian forints in his account as of September 30. In comparison, according to the capital’s own report, on September 30, it still had 113 billion HUF in its account. All this after the capital collected a record business tax of HUF 250 billion this year. Where did the money go?” the Prime Minister asked.
- Gergely Karacsony responded to this on Friday by ordering Mihaly Varga to leave the government immediately, then explained: “The final court decision stated that the government could not take any more money from the capital account. We have already paid enough, and the court ruled that continuing to operate the services “The public in the capital without interruption is more important than paying the legally disputed government tax. In comparison, the state treasury collected another 5.5 billion from our account.” The mayor said that this is just theft and abuse of power, and Finance Minister Mihaly Varga is responsible for it.
On Friday, the Hungarian Ministry of the Treasury (MÁK) also spoke about this matter and announced that due to the ongoing lawsuit, withdrawing funds from the Budapest account was previously blocked until the announcement of the order closing the second-tier proceedings, but this is no longer relevant.
On 10/17/2023, the Metropolitan Court of Appeal notified the Treasury of its order to close the second-instance case – in which the Metropolitan Court of First Instance obliged the case to proceed – and thus the effect of the temporary measure would be to ensure immediate legal protection that stopped on that day – so they wrote, adding:
It is understood that as of the above-mentioned date, there was no legal impediment for the Hungarian State Treasury to file a collection order if the Budapest City Hall did not voluntarily comply with its legal obligations to pay taxes.
The Hungarian State Treasury, as a law enforcement body, acts in all cases in accordance with and within the framework of applicable legislation. Everyone must abide by the laws and everyone must pay taxes. They added that the capital is no exception to this.
Ministry of Finance: Everyone must abide by the law
At midday on Friday, the Ministry of Finance made it clear to the index that everyone must abide by the laws and pay the tax. The capital is no exception. “We note that 723 local governments outside Budapest pay solidarity contributions, but this represents an unjustified problem only for the richest city in the country.” Moreover, it was highlighted
From reports on the capital, it can be seen that it collected HUF 250 billion in business tax by the end of September, which is more than ever before.
“Compared to this, on September 30, there were 113 billion HUF in the capital account, and yesterday morning it was only 4 billion HUF. The mayor now claims that the business tax they collected was transferred to the district municipalities. If they did, based on the rulings Legally, in this case also, the bulk of the payments, 54 percent, must remain in the capital.”
Finally, they also added that there is nothing new under the sun: the mayor of Budapest has gone bankrupt, and instead of taking responsibility, he is pointing the finger at the government. Budapest deserves that the mayor should not deal with creating political moods, spreading fake news, or forming the government, but with the affairs of the capital.
