BUDAPEST: Cabinet chief János Lázár confirmed yesterday at a press conference that a new bill will be submitted in April to reduce the top rate of the advertising tax to 5.3%, as was previously announced by Lázár following the European Commission’s investigation of the exceedingly high advertisement tax that critics said was targeting one broadcaster, RTL Klub, known for their anti-government programming.
The debate is still on as to whether two or three brackets will be introduced, Lázár added. German RTL Group Company earlier filed a complaint to Brussels as its Hungarian subsidiary RTL Klub was the only media outlet that fell into the highest bracket. The German group had said that the tax was meant as a way to pressure the station into better government news coverage – and that it put its Hungarian business in a “structurally loss-making position”.
According to earlier reports, Lázár negotiated with RTL management about lowering the ad tax, allegedly in exchange for better news coverage of the government, but the firm has denied this report. Lázár earlier noted that the tax is expected to generate a revenue of HUF 7-8 bln this year.
