Hungary top court voids key parts of Orbán’s tax decree

Hungary’s Constitutional Court annulled a widely disputed government decree on Wednesday, allowing courts to continue litigating cases involving a controversial “solidarity” tax imposed on wealthy cities.

The decree was issued in February using emergency powers outgoing nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government granted itself in 2022 in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

It concerned so-called “solidarity contributions” levied on wealthier cities to redistribute funds to poorer settlements.

Critics, including Budapest’s progressive mayor Gergely Karácsony – who launched a series of legal challenges against the measure – accused Orbán of using the tax to plug gaps in the central budget and bleed local government dry.

The February decree declared that the levies cannot be subject to litigation and instructed courts to terminate any ongoing cases, prompting widespread criticism from rights groups and legal associations, as well as concern from…