Food couriers protesting tax changes tie up traffic in capital
Image by MTI/Szilárd Koszticsák
Food couriers protesting a decision by lawmakers to restrict the Itemized Tax for Small Businesses (KATA) to sole proprietors blocked traffic on Margaret Bridge, in the center of the capital, early Monday, according to a report by state news wire MTI.
The protestors also demonstrated against a government decision to limit regulated utility prices to average household consumption of gas and electricity.
The demonstrators, mostly on scooters and bicycles, wearing T-shirts and carrying boxes of food delivery companies, occupied first the outer lane on the north side of the bridge, then the other side, and finally closed the bridge in both directions at the Pest end of the bridge, near Jászai Mari tér, MTI's correspondent reported from the scene. The demonstrators finally occupied the entire width of the bridge near Jászai Mari tér just before 8 a.m.
Paths across the bridge for pedestrians and cyclists remained open, the police said.
Hungary's government argues that restricting KATA to sole proprietors was necessary to prevent abuse by unscrupulous employers who force their workers to declare themselves KATA taxpayers to avoid paying payroll contributions.
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