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MOL boss states Hungary's windfall taxes confirm 'pay more for nothing'

Windfall taxes imposed by Hungary to assist plug the government's budget deficit are requiring business to pay more for nothing, the president of energy group MOL said on Sunday.

MOL is Hungary's most significant business profits earner and CEO Zsolt Hernadi's remarks come two weeks after Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government extended windfall taxes on some sectors to increase public revenue.

Hungary has had a hard time to contain its budget deficit because the COVID-19 pandemic, with the shortage averaging nearly 7% of economic output over the previous 4 years, well above European Union typical levels.

This month, Orban's federal government set out a fiscal stabilisation strategy, looking for contributions from banks, energy companies and multinationals as part of a drive to keep the 2024 deficit under a just recently increased target of 4.5% of GDP.

Retail sector, financial transactions, foreign exchange conversion, bank and pharmaceuticals tax, additional revenue tax and so on, Hernadi wrote in an op-ed piece on news website Mandiner. Special taxes are too numerous to keep an eye on.

If we utilize (the tax income) as a stop-gap procedure, to plug holes, finance operating costs or investments that do not support financial growth, that will develop no additional worth, Hernadi composed. We pay more for nothing.

A federal government spokesman decreased talk about Hernadi's. remarks.

MOL runs refineries in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia. Hernadi stated MOL's pre-tax profit earned in Hungary was now. insufficient to cover its Hungarian tax obligations.

A study by German-Hungarian Chamber of Market and. Commerce, released in April, revealed nearly half of respondents. were disappointed with frequent modifications to laws in Hungary in the middle of. a basic deterioration in the predictability of financial. policy.

In 2022 Orban's government imposed windfall taxes on a variety. of sectors consisting of banks, insurers, energy and airline companies,. telecommunication and pharmaceutical companies as it tried to. plug holes in the spending plan.

The government stated at the time it aimed to collect 800. billion forints ($ 2.23 billion) in taxes on extra profits. made by firms, hitting Budapest stocks and rattling investors.

(source: Reuters)