Hungary’s plans for an internet tax have been axed

Last week it was revealed that the Hungarian government was planning on implementing a tax internet usage that would see users pay an extra 38p for every GB of data they use. The public were not happy and have been protesting ever since. It’s good news, though, because the protests have worked.

Tens of thousands of Hungarians took to the streets to protest the move, which was expected to raise around £50 million a year. While the move was designed to mainly affect companies, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has declared that the tax cannot be introduced ‘in its current form’.

Instead the Hungarian government will enter a period of ‘national consultation for a long time’ in order to rework the proposal into something that the public is more supportive of. What that might be is unclear, and likely we won’t find out for a considerable amount of time.

For now it’s good to know that the public has won, and internet users are not going to be slapped with any extra charges.

Image Credit: Laszlo Beliczay MTI / AP Photo via Engadget

Tom Pritchard