Hungary suspends tax on internet use after huge protests

Hungary's prime minister says the government will suspend a planned tax on internet use and reconsider the matter next year after furious protests.

A scheme to make internet service providers pay 150 forints (HK$4.70) per gigabyte of internet traffic, later proposed to be capped at different monthly rates for individual and business users, sparked outrage.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets during two protests in the capital Budapest over the past week.

Many protesters also considered the tax as another effort by Prime Minister Viktor Orban to centralise power, muffle the media and greatly increase the role of the state in many walks of life, from business and religion to education and sports.

While Orban's Fidesz party retained its two-thirds majority in Parliament in April's elections and the prime minister is at the start of his third, four-year term, anti-government sentiment appears to be on the rise.

Arguments with the European Union and the United States, which recently banned six unnamed public officials from entering the US because of corruption, have eroded some of Orban's support.

"Whatever the government's intention was, this tax simply can't be introduced," Orban told state radio, adding that he wanted instead to hold "national consultations" on regulating and taxing the internet in January.