Double taxes for Turkish transporters in Hungary

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

DHA Photo

Hungary began to impose extra taxes of around 122 euros on Turkish land transporters on July 1, in addition to 553 euros of taxes for transit passes and 276 euros for bilateral transportation.

“This is not fair and is very discriminative for Turkish transporters, who have already paid 553 euros for transit passes and 276 euros for bilateral transportation, unlike European transporters,” Fatih Şener, executive board chairman of the Istanbul-based International Transporters Association (UND), told the Hürriyet Daily News on July 19.

“When Hungary first announced its intention to impose a transportation levy of 0.29 cents per kilometer for every truck, irrespective of its nation, we felt very glad because we supposed that we, as Turkish transporters, would pay only this new levy along with the others, but not have to pay the existing levies [on us but not on Europeans]. We, however, saw that we were wrong and we now need to pay both of them,” Şener noted.

Turkish transporters usually carry goods to European countries, mainly Germany, one of Turkey’s biggest export markets, via Bulgaria and Hungary. They now need to extra 122 euros for around 420 kilometers in Hungary on their way to their main departure stops. They say that they are treated fairly by Hungarian officials, and they are asking for the new levy to be abolished.