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Majority of Hungarians expect left-wing government to cut benefits, raise taxes, survey finds

A majority of Hungarians expect the left to cut support for couples and families and increase payroll and business taxes if it comes to power after the spring election, the daily Magyar Nemzet said on Saturday, citing a fresh survey by pollster Real-PR 93.

Fully 52-53 percent of the survey’s respondents said they expected cuts to family support and higher payroll and business taxes under a left-wing government, while 64 percent said utility bills would be expected to rise.

Though respondents living outside the capital tended to be more pessimistic about the policies of a potential left-wing government, fully 57 percent of Budapest residents agreed that a new government was likely to increase utility bills. Among respondents outside Budapest, 65 percent expect such a policy measure.

When comparing the different response scales, the survey found that 41 percent of Hungarians expect to be negatively affected by changes to utility bills under a left-wing government. Altogether 30 percent expect unfavourable changes to family support policy and 28 percent expect to be hurt by changes made to payroll and business taxes. Meanwhile, 10 percent of respondents ruled out any negative changes in these three categories under a new government.

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