Government no on abolishing inheritance tax

It has been three years since MDF first came up with the idea: the party has submitted the first proposal to the Parliament as part of the MEP election campaign. All the parties seemed to agree at that time, and negotiations even started with the Finance Minsisry (PM), caucus leader Károly Herény told daily Napi Gazdaság.

MDF thinks the tax is unjust because it is levied on an income already taxed. Society would greatly appreciate if the tax was abandoned, and would be more permissive about the austerity measures, Herényi argued. Still, yesterday István Csillag and economist Péter Mihályi suggested increasing the tax at the session of Competitiveness Round Table.

The government apparently has no moral objections to the tax, as it is one of the only two public taxes to burden wealth accumulation. According to PM's calculation, those concerned have to pay Ft 45,000 a year on average. In 2005 312,000 people paid Ft 13 billion in this form of tax. However, MDF still trusts that next year will see the beginning of a gradual withdrawal of the levy. (Napi Gazdaság)