Gőgös argued that his proposal would help low-earners and combat the black market. Radical nationalist Jobbik MP Dániel Z Kárpát called Hungary’s 27% VAT “the engine of the illegal economy,” which also weighs on the poorest. He repeated his party’s proposal to reduce VAT to 5% for basic food stuffs and products for children.

The prime minister responded that the government sought to focus taxes on consumption rather than on labour.

He insisted that cutting taxes on labour and convincing people that “it is worth working” was crucial to meet the government’s objective of completely eliminating unemployment.

In his answer to a question by another Jobbik MP concerning nurses’ wages, Orbán said that between 2011 and 2013 the government had raised the salaries of some 75,000 nurses and doctors in the sector by about 25%.

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