The Ministry of Agriculture is already working on a bill aimed at abolishing the land tax

(Photo: István Fekete)

They added: the fear of the farmers that the left-wing municipalities and mayors are preparing to introduce the land tax elsewhere, thereby burdening the farmers and landowners, who are already in a difficult situation in addition to the war, the sanctioned energy crisis and the drought. In March, the representatives of the farmers’ organizations symbolically handed over the 120,000 signatures collected in a petition against the land tax to the Minister of Agriculture, István Nagy, and asked the ministry to develop a bill enabling the abolition of the land tax.

According to Balázs Győrffy, president of the National Chamber of Agrarian Economy, the amount of signatures indicates a serious social need, a kind of pressure on the government

He is confident that the good cooperation with the government so far will continue on this topic as well and that a favorable decision will be reached for the farmers. Hungarian farmers believe that any form of introducing a land tax is an extremely harmful and irresponsible decision – the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office wrote. According to the announcement, Minister of Agriculture István Nagy emphasized that the Hungarian government and the farmers’ association trained under fire. The Ministry of Agriculture and the government stand by the Hungarian farmers, condemning and opposing all forms of the introduction of local land taxes. “We have heard the request, and we will take the necessary steps. We are committed to the fact that agricultural land cannot form the basis of taxes, and we will enforce this in legislation,” said the minister. – “István Jakab, the president of the Association of Hungarian Farmers’ Associations and Farmers’ Cooperatives, informed in the announcement that farmers undertake to pay public charges in countless ways. This is another joke – he continued – which he definitively rejects on behalf of the farmers. “Never again land tax”, this is what they are asking the Hungarian government to do. The bill will be developed jointly by the employers’ organizations and government officials and submitted to the Parliament, he added.

Zsolt Nyitrai, chief adviser to the Prime Minister, also indicated in the announcement: it is important that Hungarian farmers know who and what they can expect in public life.

The consequences of the land tax affect everyone, as the tax burden leads to an increase in the price of food. On the occasion of the formation of a left-wing government, the land tax would be introduced throughout the country. The drafting of the bill is thoughtful, but it requires fast work, so the effort is to submit it and adopt it as soon as possible – they finally wrote in the announcement.

MTI