Orbán: People need to be consulted on family tax refunds

If the reopening is successful, pensioners will also benefit. The family tax refund is about the fact that the biggest burden was borne by families during the crisis, so they have to be given their tax back - said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Kossuth Radio this morning. 

The reimbursement would be applied up to the level of the average income, but it will be necessary to ask people for their opinion, because such a solution has never been applied before, he added.

There will be major changes in the world economy, which will be different after the pandemic than before, and we will have to adapt to the challenge we are facing.

We are living in an age of epidemics and migration, so the consultation will address these two issues in addition to the economy. 

On the issue of immigration, he highlighted: armies of migrants are banging on the gates both on land and sea routes. There have been 38 thousand people so far trying to enter the country illegally this year, while last year this number was around 10 thousand.

- Not only illegal migration should be rejected, but all migration, because of the epidemic; this issue will also be discussed in the consultation," he added. 

- The starting point is, in the government’s view, that there is no good migration; everyone should prosper where they are born, and we should help everyone to live a life worthy of human dignity where they are born. Of course, there are times when people have to flee because of war, and then we should provide help temporarily. It should not mean helping people settle down here, it should be about offering temporary assistance. Help must be taken to where the problems are, rather than bringing the problems here, he said.

With regard to the cooperation of businesses, the Prime Minister stressed that scarcity and hardship do not lead to isolation, but human relationships become more loving, and people can count on each other more.

Speaking about providing soft loans to help businesses, he said that prices are going up, so is the price of oil, so the Central Bank’s ability to provide businesses with cheap loans has been obviously reduced.

New soft loans will be launched with the help of Kavosz, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry will also be involved in the program. 

Regarding vaccinations, he highlighted: about 137,000 people have not taken the second vaccine; there are some of them waiting because of some health condition, but everybody that fails to take the second dose of the vaccine will have their immunity card cancelled.

With regard to the minimum wage planned to be raised to 200,000 forints, he emphasized that those people need to receive help who are in the most difficult situation, but at the same time we must make sure that domestic small and medium-sized enterprises can manage to cover the higher wage costs and will not have to lay off staff.