Orbán’s oligarchs on edge as Hungary poised to launch wealth tax

New PM Péter Magyar calls policy a sign of ‘social justice’ after years of political loyalty being rewarded with economic opportunity

I n a dimly lit television studio, one of Hungary’s richest men is on the verge of tears. It is early May, weeks after the general election that ended Viktor Orbán’s 16-year grip on power, and the advertising mogul Gyula Balásy has an announcement to make.

Balásy tells the interviewer that he has just surrendered his businesses to the state, along with a chunk of his private savings. He has even brought along a notarised deed – a legal document setting out the change of ownership.

“In the current situation, I don’t think that our group of companies has a future,” he says.

Balásy was among the most prominent beneficiaries of the Orbán era. His companies operated a network of poster sites known as the blue billboards, on which a succession of figures from the financier George Soros to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, were designated as public enemies, in propaganda campaigns paid for by the state.

Today, the billboards stand empty. Hungary’s new leader, Péter Magyar , and his party, Tisza, have their sights firmly set on Orbán’s oligarchs. Not only has Balásy’s access to public sector contracts come to an end, but the tax bill on his remaining millions is likely to rise.

The finance minister, András Kármán, has promised that by 5 June he will provide more detail on a planned overhaul of the tax regime that could result in Hungary becoming the first current member of the EU to introduce a new wealth tax since the 1980s.

Announcing the policy in a post on X last summer, Magyar said the move was “not a punishment but a sign of social justice and solidarity in a functioning and humane country”.