A New Dream By Liberal Opposition: A Budget Without Taxes

The time has come for some head-scratching. First the party approves the key figures of the 2009 budget bill and then it would throw the tax ideas out the window? Being in the politics business is nice, but sometimes it does not hurt to have some logic.

Hungary's legislation is in an odd situation this year. Due to the drastically changing economic environment and some other events, the key figures of next year's budget were approved before the tax bill would have been tackled. (Since changes to the tax regime need to be enacted 45 days prior to their implementation, some modifications will enter into force only on 1 February 2009.)

The parties reacted differently. The main opposition party Fidesz says no to virtually anything ab ovo, and conjures up “well-founded" alternative solutions. What these really are, no one knows. If it's something that makes the headlines, the country would go topsy-turvy in a minute. If it's about something else, we are not in the mood to decipher it.

The Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) surprisingly behaved rather pragmatically. It said it would nod on the tax proposals if, in exchange, a great part of the death duty (what a demagogue term, uh!) is done away with. A small party that has been dreaming about this for years cannot really hope for anything more. Then it says no to the key budget figures - it makes sense looking like an actual opposition party once in a while, doesn't it? - and we wouldn't even heckle the party for this.

Meanwhile, the SZDSZ proved to be hugely inconsistent once again. First it backs up the government in the vote on the key 2009 budget numbers “for the sake of the country's stability", virtually helping the Socialists avoid a real bummer. Then Kóka comes along and announces that so many of their ideas were neglected that, sorry gents, the party simply cannot consent to the tax proposals. By next week they will surely have their own notions on the table and start discussions about them.

So, what in the name of the Budget God is going on? Do we see it right? They really want a budget where the main figures allow practically no manoeuvring room but at the same time they would overhaul the tax laws that the whole budget is based on? And what problem they could possibly have with this tax package that lacks practically everything that actually makes it a tax package. 'And therein, as the Bard would tell us, lies the rub.' Perhaps. This void is what may be hurting the liberals so much. But if they cannot imagine next year with such taxes, why did they approve the main budget figures in the first place?

This must be what they call theoretical politicking, which would be OK only if their theories were in harmony."

Source: Portfolio Online Financial Journal