Next year’s budget is a budget of safe growth, this is what Parliament will vote on Friday, Csaba Dömötör, the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister said on the public service television news channel M1 and on Kossuth Radio’s programme 180 Minutes.

The two main directions of the 2019 budget are security and growth. Taxes will further decrease: while during the left-wing governments there was a 27 per cent employer tax, next year its rate will be reduced to 17.5 per cent which will further increase the possibility of businesses to raise wages. On average the pay rise of nursing staff will be 65 per cent, and law enforcement workers and the employees of some state-owned companies will also earn more next year, the politician said.

Family benefits will increase, and the tax benefit of families with two children will rise to HUF 40,000 monthly. There will be more money for nursery school developments, and the normative grants of nursery schools will also increase, while the programme which seeks to assist families with their housing projects will likewise continue. Security, public security, the protection of the borders and defence policy are particular priorities, and therefore more than HUF 100 billion extra funding will be allocated to these tasks, while the health care budget will increase to a similar extent, Mr Dömötör said.

The reduction of taxes is in proportion to the economy’s burden-bearing capacity, income tax will remain a flat-rate tax, and every priority area will enjoy a higher allocation which is permitted by the 4 per cent planned growth rate, he added.

In light of the fact that the signs of an impending crisis are multiplying – trade war, interest increases, unemployment around the world – the central reserve of the 2019 budget will increase by 50 per cent, he said.

Everything is ready and in place for Parliament to adopt next year’s budget today which provides a high degree of predictability for business players as well as for families, the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister added.

The government-party politician observed that even the opposition could vote for this budget as there are more funds allocated to areas which the opposition often mentions as fields in need of excess funding, such as health care, environmental protection and culture.

Regarding the busy diplomatic schedule of recent weeks and the Prime Minister’s visit to Israel, Mr Dömötör highlighted that while in Hungary there is zero tolerance towards anti-Semitism, in Western Europe it is on the increase due to the presence of millions of migrants.

(MTI)