Tens of thousands take to Hungary's streets in latest Internet tax protest

About 100,000 Hungarians rallied late into the night on Tuesday to protest a planned tax on Internet data traffic and the broader course of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government, which they see as undermining democracy and relations with the European Union.

It was by far the largest protest since Orban’s center-right government took power in 2010 and pursued policies to redefine many walks of life, drawing accusations of creeping authoritarianism.

Orban's government, which was nonetheless re-elected by a landslide this year, has imposed special taxes on the banking, retail, energy and telecommunications sectors to keep the budget deficit in check, jeopardizing profits in some parts of the economy and unnerving international investors.

The Internet data levy idea was first floated in the 2015 tax code submitted to the Central European country's parliament last week, triggering objections from Internet service providers and users who felt it was anti-democratic.

This week's protests have been organized largely over Facebook and appeared to draw mostly well-heeled professionals. Tens of thousands have marched through central Budapest for three days now, demanding the repeal of the planned tax and the ouster of Orban.

At Tuesday evening's protests, the largest yet, demonstrators held up makeshift signs that read "ERROR!" and "How many times do you want to skin us?"

Zsolt Varady, an Internet entrepreneur and founder of a now-defunct Hungarian social network iwiw.hu, told the crowd that the tax threatened to undermine Internet freedoms.

Since 2006, Varady said, "People [have been] willing to pay for [Internet] service because they knew, saw and felt that their lives were becoming better … The Internet tax threatens the further growth of the Internet as well as freedom of information."

The government had planned to tax internet data transfers at a rate of 150 forints, or about 60 cents, per gigabyte. After analysts calculated this would total more than the sector's annual revenue and an initial protest drew thousands on Sunday, Fidesz submitted a bill that capped the tax at 700 forints (just under $3) per month for individuals and 5,000 forints ($20) for companies.

As Tuesday's swelling crowds showed, the concession has not quelled Hungarians' outrage.

"I am a student, my parents are not well off, neither am I, so I work hard," said Ildiko Pirk, a 22-year-old studying nursing. "I doubt the Internet companies won't build this tax into their prices. And I have a computer, a smartphone, as does my mother and my four siblings. ... That adds up."

Protesters have also noted that the Internet was widely used to gain access to unbiased news that is not under the control of Hungary's ruling political elite.

But many protesters say the government's other moves have also bothered them, suggesting that the Internet tax has served to ignite wider grievances about perceived mismanagement of the economy and a recent dispute with the United States over alleged corruption of Hungarian public officials.

The Orban government has denied any anti-democratic agenda, saying it aimed only to get all economic sectors to share the tax burden and was tapping into a trend of telecommunications shifting away from already-taxed telephony and text messages.

The European Commission has also criticized the proposed tax, saying that that it was economically misguided because it was based on data traffic now growing rapidly around the world.

"It's part of a pattern ... of actions which have limited freedoms or sought to take rents without achieving a wider economic or social interest," said Ryan Heath, spokesman for outgoing Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes.

Al Jazeera and wire services