In the latest edition of the International Tax Competitiveness Index, Poland was placed 36th out of 37th OECD countries. In the international ranking of tax systems’ competitiveness prepared by the American Tax Foundation, only Italy scored worse.

In Hungary, most media outlets are funded by the government, which as such requires them to be very much biased. The tax-funded public television, which normally would have to inform rather than indoctrinate people, is dismissed by the Hungarian youth as a fake-news channel. Trust in the public media is lowest only in Poland. And not without reason.

Inflation is often referred to as a tax, imposed without parliamentary approval, without legislation and without considering the consequences. Today’s inflation is special: printing money seemed to be pretty much the only way to respond to the pandemic and to finance rising public spending.

Estonia is doing all it can to maintain its current income tax system in the EU tax debate, Minister of Finance Keit Pentus-Rosimannus (Reform) told ERR on Tuesday, confirming reports of Estonia, alongside Hungary, blocking a revised set of EU tax rules.

Regulatory clouds are gathering over internet platforms. The European Commission is preparing a major regulatory package called the Digital Markets Act, which will significantly regulate many aspects of how large internet companies operate.

2022 will be the year of a momentous election in Hungary. We can’t see past it but we can line up the forces that shape the outcome. We will analyze the four possible scenarios of election results – supermajority or simple majority to either side – and what may come after.

300 days. That is how long Andrzej Poczobut has been sitting in a Belarusian prison on fabricated charges. The authorities accused him (along with the head of the Union of Poles in Belarus, Andzelika Borys) of “inciting hatred on the grounds of nationality”. They may face a dozen or so years of labor camps.

Every Soviet citizen was dreaming about buying a car. There were obvious problems: cars were in deficit in the Soviet Union (SU) and the salaries of the workers were hardly enough to buy such basics as food and clothing.