Cancelled, well not really. The PM Orban's reaction was the following:<p>- the tax cannot be introduced given the current reactions.<p>- people question the rationale behind this whole thing<p>- the whole argument went off track<p>He also said that they'll start a "national consultation" about the topic. Now a "national consultation" (invented by them a few years ago) means that they send out a paper via snail mail to every citizen who is eligible for voting (around 8 million out of 10). The questions are phrased manipulatively. We won't see a clear question like "Would you like to pay this tax YES/NO" option. It is usually it is phrased in a form like "Some people think this thing is good because blblablabla, while others think this is not that good because blablabla". Now it is always phrased in a very manipulative way and contains biased arguments. I mean arguments (i.e. campaigning) on the questionnaire itself.<p>Then of course no one controls or oversees the processing of the collected questionnaires. So it looks like a referendum but it's a plot device, a persuasion device to show fake support. The result can (and will) be manipulated, interpreted at will by the government.<p>The guy in charge of the 'consultation' is Tamas Deutsch, who previously called the protesters stinky bugs (while he also didn't agree with the idea of the tax). Also, FIDESZ (Orban's party) regularly and outrageously censor their FB page. They delete opposing but polite comments, ban users.<p>This happened to me after the first protest when their reaction was that they are open to arguments and discussion but reject vandalism (two windows of their empty HQ were broken by 5 people). I made a try. Posted 2 comments, got banned (comments deleted).<p>(edit: formatting)<p>So while it is a major result for the people in Hungary, it by no means is a final victory.
For most people who were protesting this proposal was the last straw and what you can't see from these posts that people were saying "Orban get lost!" and "Down with the corrupt government!" during those events. People started talking about a much needed referendum to get rid of Orban and his corrupt retinue so after the first protest this started to be about much more than the internet tax. This momentum is broken now since we got what we wanted <i></i>initially<i></i>. We'll see what happens next.
Why do taxes always have to be so artificial?<p>The reason to have income tax is to have people who can afford it contribute to society. I can see how that is a good thing.<p>The reason to introduce an internet tax is what? To only have people who make enough money use the internet? What kind of nonsense is that?<p>Please, let us agree that whenever a new tax is introduced, it is justified.<p>And perhaps lawmakers should ask system/OS programmers for help, because they actually can come up with good and fair rules to make complex interacting systems work as they should.
Last time the proposed tax was posted [1], a lot of people thought it was a distraction from Hungary's international relationships -- specifically its increasing reliance on Russia.<p>[1] <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8491882" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8491882</a>
I'm Hungarian and I can assure that this move is a beautiful temporization from our government. They proposed this tax to herd the attention from the 'banning scandal'.[1] And now from one moment to the other, they are heroes.
[1] <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/20/us-usa-hungary-idUSKCN0I921220141020" rel="nofollow">http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/20/us-usa-hungary-idU...</a>
An internet tax? That sounds like something that the Australian government would conjure up [1].<p>[1] <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/secret-government-briefing-admits-metadata-law-cost-and-warns-of-internet-tax-campaign-20141030-11e1v8.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/secret...</a>
USA law is the Patriot Act which EFF dot org says is used mostly for
'low level' drug caes and not the intended targets.
Cyprus. redacted<p>Hungary needs a reason to monitor and peek at you. So, a small
tax. Famous USA gangster Al Capone never convicted for
murder, but he was convicted for evasion of tax laws.<p>Allegedly some say the laws were passed just for the famous gangster.<p>Why did the USA invade in the middle east? Supposedly the
'internet forgery' Italian letter, which would be taxed by the
HUNGARY INTERNET TAX.<p>Technical question:
What happens if there is a DNS hijacking on the country level
like before? Or some high bandwidth sent from the botnets
to YOUR PERSONAL COMPUTER?<p>Pay up Hungary because that RUSSIAN 'assistant sofware'
makes for high bandwidth. The video cassete manufacturers
will make sure that HUNGARY NETFLIX dies an early death.<p>Pay up Hungary!
Something quite interesting in the article is that it was intended to be a telecommunications tax and ended up being perceived as an internet tax.<p>In some countries there are already telecommunications taxes/duties that would also be 'internet tax'<p>I guess the phrasing can be a big deal.
I am surprised that US government has not got this tax idea before Hungary. After all only rich people use Internet more while the poor and welfare dependent people dont use much of internet.