Thousands In Hungary March Against Internet Tax

Some 100,000 protesters have marched in Budapest against a plan by the Hungarian government to introduce an Internet tax from 2015.

Speakers outside the Economy Ministry on October 28 called on Prime Minister Viktor Orban to withdraw the plan to force Internet service providers to pay almost $3 per individual subscriber and $29 per business subscriber every month.

There are concerns that the tax will not be absorbed by the service providers, as the government claims.

The rally, the second in three days against the move, was also a sign of growing discontent among mostly younger citizens against Orban's policies centralizing power and increasing the role of the state.

Orban's government has imposed special taxes on the banking, retail, energy and telecommunications sectors to keep the budget deficit in check, unnerving international investors.

Orban's governing party, Fidesz, won its second consecutive election with a two-thirds majority in April.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters