Professional Association Presses Government to Scrap Ad Tax

The Hungarian Advertising Association and its partner organizations welcome the fact that, among its first measures, the incoming Tisza government has maintained the zero-percent advertising tax rate by elevating emergency regulations to the level of law; at the same time, the organization is calling for the abolition of this tax, the Hungarian Advertising Association told MTI on Monday.

They wrote in a statement that they hope the Tisza government will permanently abolish the advertising tax based on their arguments, because only a domestic advertising and media industry that operates effectively and predictably can strengthen the Hungarian economy.

In their view, the advertising tax is harmful not only to the advertising industry – particularly the operations and profitability of domestic media companies – but also to the entire Hungarian economy.

They say the outgoing Fidesz government of Viktor Orbán introduced the special tax that has the communications industry in a stranglehold on July 1, 2014, without professional consultation, citing the need to balance the budget, but in reality serving political and business objectives, the statement says. “When the advertising tax was first proposed, the Advertising Association took the lead in the professional protest and, for nearly 12 years, has steadfastly voiced its opposition and sought to convey its well-founded objections to the decision-makers of the previous government by calling for professional dialogue; however, lacking opportunities to do so, it primarily argued its case in other forums and in the press, and also submitted comments to the European Commission," the statement reads.