Tobacco companies would pay a one-time levy in 2015 to fund health care costs under a bill before Parliament filed by a member of the ruling Fidesz party, according to media reports.

MP Kristóf Szatmáry is the legislator behind the proposal that would set a levy amounting to 0.2 per cent of annual sales on companies with net revenue between HUF 30 million (EUR 98,000) and HUF 30 billion, , according to a report in the Budapest Business Journal citing a story by news agency MTI. For companies with net revenue from HUF 30 billion to HUF 60 billion, the levy would rise to 2.5 per cent. Above HUF 60 billion, a 4.5 per cent duty would be collected.
Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco are ranked one, two and three in Hungary, all with annual net revenues above HUF 60 billion, the website Portfolio.hu reported. Hungary’s Continental Tobacco Group is the fourth largest in sales, with annual revenue below HUF 30 billion, according to the website.