Opposition to planned Internet tax
October 23rd, 2014Right-wing bloggers are infuriated by the government’s plan to impose a new tax on the use of the internet. They accuse the ruling party of reneging on its earlier position.
On Válasz, Heti Válasz’s internet site, András Stumpf calls the planned internet tax “another U-turn by Fidesz”. At a time, when Hungary is being criticised for failing to meet certain international standards, Stumpf argues, it is difficult to understand how the government can dream of imposing a new tax on the internet. It will be accused of stifling one of the last platforms of dissent. Stumpf recalls a statement made by Fidesz in 2008 while still in opposition, in which it vehemently condemned a plan by the left-wing government to introduce an internet tax.
In an even more furious comment on the same pro-government site, István Dévényi writes that the Hungarian internet community is upset by the news and if elections were to be held today, the governing forces would be defeated, because “people would vote for anybody but Fidesz”
On Mandiner, editor Ákos Gergely Balogh calls the planned tax “brutal” and contrasts it with the Fidesz’s two year old campaign aimed at reducing public utility tariffs.
Meanwhile, a leading Fidesz politician has hinted at possible opposition within Fidesz itself to the planned internet tax. On his Facebook site, Zsolt Nyitrai, MP writes “Just wait and see!”