In his recent State of the Nation address, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary has announced that the income tax exemption for mothers will be expanded from mothers of four to mothers of thee and two children. This has caught the attention of Bryan Leib, a Senior Fellow at the Center for Fundamental Rights, who is in contention to become the next US Ambassador to Hungary as well.
In his tweet, he shares that he has been informed by his friends in Budapest, Hungary about the development. ‘I love how he [PM Orbán] is always putting families first in Hungary,’ he wrote. ‘Maybe we should be doing something similar in America!’ he added.
Reducing taxes and providing incentives for raising children certainly fits in the policy profile of Elon Musk, one of President Trump’s most trusted advisors. Leib is also aware of that fact, as he tagged the billionaire Tesla owner and head of the newly created DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) in his replies.
As for the details of PM Orbán’s tax exemption plan for mothers, it has been in effect for mothers of four since January 2020 in order to encourage childbearing and thus increase the fertility rate of Hungarian women. Hungary’s population has been declining since the late 1980s. As we wrote above, the programme’s expansion to mothers of three and two has just been announced by the Prime Minister.
However, it is important to note that later Minister for National Economy Márton Nagy of Hungary clarified that while the tax exemption for mothers of three will take effect in the autumn of 2025, the full inclusion of mothers of two into the programme will take until 2030. Women with two children will gradually be included, starting from 2026. ‘We can make this happen by 150,000 mothers at a time, in four steps,’ Minister Nagy explained at an event, as reported by the Hungarian business site Portfolio.hu.
There are an estimated 600,000 Hungarian mothers of two and 250,000 mothers of three who are affected by the expansion.
In response to questions from journalists, Minister Nagy also said that the lifetime income tax exemption for mothers of two and three children would work in the same way as the system for four children: working mothers will receive this benefit regardless of their salary, age, and the age of their children. He also reminded all that the family tax refund, which is 10,000 HUF ($26) to 165,000 HUF ($430) per month based on the number of dependents in the household, can be claimed by fathers as well.
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