Hungary will increase its advertising tax from the current 5.3% to 7.5%, rather than the 9% that had been previously planned.
Speaking in a press conference in Budapest and quoted by Portfolio, Lajos Kósa, the leader of the ruling Fidesz party’s parliamentary group, said that the government plans to maintain the 7.5% level until it meets the EU’s requirement to reimburse the ad revenue collected in a previous scheme that had been disapproved of by the EU.
This amounts to HUF23.1 billion and could take up to four years to complete.
As previously reported by Broadband TV News, Hungary introduced a controversial progressive ad tax, with the highest rate being 50%, in June 2014.
It was widely seen as targeting RTL Klub, the country’s leading broadcaster, for opposing the Fidesz-led government.