The government will still impose a tax on advertisements under the present circumstances, government Spokesman András Giró-Szász said on Wednesday in response to a question regarding the consequences of the European Commission’s recommendation to lift the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) against Hungary. Economy Minister Mihály Varga said that the issues of the extraordinary sectoral taxes or the financial transaction tax were not discussed at a Wednesday cabinet meeting, though a proposal on the advertisement tax was prepared. Prime Minister Orbán early last week mentioned for the first time the advertisement tax, which he said should be introduced parallel to an increase in the financial transactions duty, the bank levy and the energy tax to ensure that the Excessive Deficit Procedure against Hungary is lifted. The economy ministry published a draft of the tax last Friday and the government was to discuss the plan at its meeting on Wednesday.



