Budapest to Continue 'Fight for Justice' Over Solidarity Tax

  • 22 Jan 2026 9:35 AM
Budapest to Continue 'Fight for Justice' Over Solidarity Tax
In the wake of a recent Constitutional Court ruling, the city of Budapest will "continue to fight for justice" in a suit concerning the city's solidarity tax, Mayor Gergely Karácsony said on Facebook.

Referring to the top court's Tuesday decision, Karacsony said the court had "rejected without any meaningful consideration" a lower court's concerns about the tax imposed on the capital, maintaining its position on the matter published in 2024.

The top court said in 2024 that the amount of the tax should be set "in a fair procedure" and the government must ensure that "the amount is not exaggerated" to an extent that it could compromise municipal services, the mayor said, adding that "those conditions were not met in 2025."

Govt office head: Budapest budget 'based on fictitious numbers, unlawful'

The Constitutional Court ruled for the second time that the solidarity contribution is not contrary to the Fundamental Law, the head of the Budapest government office said on Facebook on Wednesday, adding that the Budapest budget "is based on fictitious numbers and is unlawful."

Botond Sara said in a video that the budget contained some 100 billion forints (EUR 259.4m) in revenues "which [Mayor] Gergely Karacsony and the opposition Tisza party supporting him are hoping to come by when the court orders solidarity contributions to be paid back."

The decision of the Constitutional Court "has made it clear that would never happen. That means that there is a large deficit in the city budget, and that is unlawful," Sara said.

Sara said that while Karacsony and Tisza were "riling up Budapest citizens and bringing unreliability, uncertainty and near-insolvency ... we are working to restore lawful operations because that is in the interest of Budapest citizens," he said.
 

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881. While MTI articles are usually factual, some may contain political bias, and readers should be aware that such content does not reflect the position of XpatLoop, which is neutral and independent.

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