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Hungary To Tax Internet Traffic

Posted by Soulskill on from the how-to-kill-your-youtube-habit dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The Hungarian government has announced a new tax on internet traffic: 150 HUF ($0.62 USD) per gigabyte. In Hungary, a monthly internet subscription costs around 4,000-10,000 HUF ($17-$41), so it could really put a constraint on different service providers, especially for streaming media. This kind of tax could set back the country's technological development by some 20 years — to the pre-internet age. As a side note, the Hungarian government's budget is running at a serious deficit. The internet tax is officially expected to bring in about 20 billion HUF in income, though a quick look at the BIX (Budapest Internet Exchange) and a bit of math suggests a better estimate of the income would probably be an order of magnitude higher.

5 of 324 comments (clear)

  1. Nah, this is just stage 1 by halivar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -- Ronald Reagan

  2. Surely there's more to come :( by tibit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hungary is, sadly, turning into authoritarian regime focused on maintaining the power of those at the top. Anything that feeds their spending habits is on the table, I'm sure. We should expect more news like that coming from Hungary :(

    --
    A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
  3. Re:A few things... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hungarian dude here.

    1. That will be delegated to the ISPs. The plan is, that the ISPs should pay these taxes from their profits, and are expected NOT to increase the internet subscription fees, however, they will anyhow.
    2. It is a tax on everything. not just streaming.
    3. They won't leave anything untaxed.

  4. What looks like a stupid tax from the US... by Torp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ... looks like an attempt to restrict free speech from a little closer to Hungary. The current regime has serious totaliarian tendencies and this tax (which will raise internet connection prices) leaves less avenues of communication for the Hungarian citizens.
    Note the prices for an internet connection; at 30 gbytes/month, this tax could double the entry level price. At the average salary in Hungary, the extra $18 will be felt.

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    I apologize for the lack of a signature.
  5. Re:A few things... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Your post just cost you 0.02 cents. Please pay up.