Lázár said the minimum level of payment to which the tax would apply will be raised from Ft 2 million to Ft 3.5 million. However, the special tax would be imposed on Ft 2 million payments for state and local government leaders and chief executives of state and local government-run companies.

State leaders would have to pay the 98% tax over Ft 3.5 million on income collected after January 1, 2005, and would be required to pay the tax by March 31, 2011. The Constitution will be amended accordingly.

The extension of the tax would mean that former members of the Gyurcsány and Bajnai cabinets would be ordered to replay large sums to the state, Magyar Hírlap writes.

Gyurcsány left in 2009 with over Ft 9 million in severance pay, former finance minister János Veres and former secret services minister György Szilvásy each received Ft 7.7 million, while former BKV spokesman Miklós Regőczi collected Ft 34 million, former BKV CEO Botond Aba Ft 13 million, and former Duna TV head László Cselényi Ft 49 million.

Politics Can Be Different (LMP) said the whole idea of such special taxes should be abandoned, in keeping with the Constitutional Court’s decision.

Caucus leader András Schiffer said ordinary people now fear that if they collect their severance pay the state will later demand it back. Schiffer also called for revoking the bill curbing the authority of the Constitutional Court."

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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