Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is raising the minimum wage in the minimum wage in the country in a move widely seen as benefitting lower-income Hungarians.
“We are sweeping the Tisza austerity package off the table and instead we are signing a major agreement today,” Viktor Orbán wrote in a Facebook post this morning.
“Next year, we will raise the minimum wage by 11 percent and the guaranteed minimum wage by 7 percent. In other words, the income of a total of 700,000 families will definitely increase from January 1, and we haven’t even talked about the increased family benefits,” the Hungarian prime minister wrote, after disclosing that the deal comes after months of negotiations between employers and employees.
The prime minister added that the government’s 11-point tax reduction program is largely to thank for the move, given the decreased tax burden on SMEs, to the tune of HUF 90 billion (€240 million), which gave these companies (employers) wiggle room for wage increases.
“Thank you to everyone who contributed to this important agreement! We believe that the economy must be developed, wages must be raised, and taxes must be reduced,” he wrote.
In recent weeks, the tax proposals of the opposition leader, Tisza, led by Péter Magyar, have been leaked and heavily criticized due to their extensive austerity, from the elimination of a childcare benefit and certain corporate tax breaks to hiking inheritance taxes, privatizing healthcare, and even taxing pets.
Magyar is largely seen as at the beck and call of Brussels, with the European Parliament essentially signalling that were Magyar to come to power, the EU would finally release millions of euros owed to Hungary. And yet, Brussels will also apparently demand higher taxes and other austerity measures in return.
With the leak of the plans, Tisza appears to be struggling in the polls.
