The Hungarian government’s goal is to provide a safe and competitive economic environment for taxpayers, and therefore it strives to strengthen US-Hungarian tax cooperation, Mihály Varga noted after the US-Hungarian Business Council (USHBC) meeting. Announcement from the Ministry of Finance.
As is known, the United States announced last July that it would end the decree that has been in place since 1979, after Hungary used its veto against the adoption of the European Union directive on the application of a global minimum tax, ensuring the avoidance of double taxation.
Although the Hungarian government has since voted in favor of the EU project, Washington has not started new negotiations with the Hungarian government, as Mihaly Varga told Portfolio two weeks ago.
In this regard, the Minister of Finance spoke at the meeting that reviving the new agreement would be discussed, but they have not yet received a response from the American side. According to Varga, the consequences of terminating the previous agreement are therefore unfavorable for both countries.
Speaking about the relationship between the two countries, the Minister of Finance said: The United States is the largest investor in Hungary outside the European Union, and its share of the total investment portfolio is close to 9%.
So far, the Hungarian government has concluded strategic cooperation agreements with 94 companies, including 14 American companies. Mihaly Varga added that 1,700 American companies employ about 107,000 people, and that the volume of bilateral trade increased in 2022 from 7.1 to 8.3 billion dollars, or 16%, breaking the record for the volume of bilateral trade.
The American-Hungarian Business Council, founded in New York in 2016, organized a US-Hungarian economic summit this year, aiming to bring new investors to our country in addition to existing ones.
Cover image source: Ákos Stiller, Portfolio
