Hungary: growing social discontent

Enough is enough! Union and worker reaction to the 2015 draft budget bill is outrage at plans to raise taxes on social benefits. However this issue of discontent is just one amongst many at a time when social dialogue is dead in the water.
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One measure too many. Unions were left flummoxed by Victor Orban’s government’s latest decision to include in the 2015 draft budget bill a measure that raises taxes on certain social benefits and ceilings from 35.7% to 51.17%. More galling was the fact that this measure was announced through the press. The social benefits take the form of cheques, gift cards, and gift vouchers (for example Erzsébet-utalvány and SZÉP-kártya) and facilitate payment for purchases and social outings such as meals,

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