Deutsche Welle, 28 Oct 2014
Hungarians
have taken to the streets again to protest a new Internet tax. It's the last
straw amidst government shortfalls and a diplomatic crisis, one protester tells
DW.
On Tuesday
(28.10.2014), Hungarians will stage the second protest against their
government's plans to introduce a tax for Internet use. If it is implemented,
Hungarians will have to pay 150 forints ($0.60) per gigabyte - the government
has promised to cap the tax at 700 forints ($2.92). Companies could pay a
maximum of $20.31. Daniel Mayer, a 26 year old student Budapest, was among the
10,000 protesters who called for the government to withdraw the draft law on
Sunday (26.10.2014).
DW: How
would paying the Internet tax affect you?
Daniel
Mayer: We are speaking of a maximum of 2.30 euros ($2.92) a month - that is
nothing. This tax won't change the Internet habits of Hungarians or companies.
No one will be reading fewer articles that are critical of the government. No
company will shut down because of the new Internet tax. But everyone can feel
and finally understand why this is a problem. This is why so many people took
to the streets, who weren't protesting before.
Why is it
so important to Hungarians?
It is
symbolic, because the Internet is something which was free and not controlled
or influenced by the government. Our print and traditional media is awful, and
you have to pay for it. The average Hungarian under the age of 50 uses the
Internet for a lot of things, maybe even more than in western Europe, because
everything is free and easily accessible on the Internet. So Hungarians are now
afraid that they can lose that or that something will change. My problem is not
the money, it's the principle of it which makes me angry. There are countries
like Finland, which say, Internet access is a fundamental right. There are
countries where the Internet is subsidized by the government. So this tax would
put Hungary back 10 or 15 years.
Do you
think the government is trying to target a specific group with the tax?
No. The
government just wants money and they have run out of ideas. They have a tax on
banks, on grocery stores, on telecommunication companies, and now they have
decided to tax the Internet. We already have 27 percent of value added tax
(VAT) on everything, including Internet services. This is the highest in the
EU. And now we will get an extra tax specifically on the Internet.
 |
| Daniel Mayer studies sociology in Budapest. |
Where is
the money supposed to go?
We don't
know. That is also the problem that I and a lot of protesters have. If the
government would say, "we desperately need this to do x, y, z," then
it could be a little more understandable. But the government doesn't take us
seriously. They are not saying what they want to do with it, or why they need
it, they just say, "we need it."
So is the
tax about Hungary's economic difficulties or about a growing authoritarian
approach by the government as the media report?
The
government is becoming more authoritarian, but in this case it's more of a
financial question. I also think it has something to do with distracting
Hungarians from the scandal in which six high-ranking Hungarian officials were
banned from entering the US.
If the
Internet tax is largely symbolic, does it mean that there is a general sense of
dissatisfaction amongst the people?
At the
demonstration, there were a lot of posters and people shouting, "we don't
want to pay money to the corrupt tax agency," "Russia go home,"
or "Europe we want you." So the demonstration showed that the people
are well aware of the diplomatic crisis with the US and the shortfalls of the
government. This was the last straw, and now they are demonstrating against
everything. Although I don't think our protests will turn into a revolution, it
is a little bit like in Gezi Park in Turkey: their main problem was not the
trees, that was just the last thing which brought the people to the streets. It
has become symbolic for Hungarians.
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