Hungarian Foreign Minister to Discuss Global Minimum Tax with US Politicians and Business Players

The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade is meeting with US senators and congressmen as well as US business representatives in Washington DC on Wednesday to discuss threats related to a global minimum tax for businesses.

Péter Szijjártó will also address a business forum of Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative advocacy group, and talk about Hungarian economic policy and the global minimum tax, the ministry said.

Hungary, the country with the lowest corporate tax rate in Europe and the third lowest in the world, views a global minimum corporate tax as extremely harmful and dangerous, the ministry quoted Szijjártó as saying. Tax burdens for companies operating in Hungary would double overnight, threatening hundreds of thousands of jobs, ‘bringing Hungary back to where it was in 2010, when we had 1 million fewer jobs than today’ , did he declare.

“We don’t want to risk Hungarians’ jobs, so we won’t agree to introduce the global minimum tax in Europe,” he said.

The Republican Party, which he said was expected to win a majority in the U.S. Congress in midterm elections in the fall, also rejected the measure because it risked jeopardizing jobs and hurting competitiveness. Szijjártó is due to meet with representatives of ten US companies, two US senators and five members of Congress.