Global Breaking News - Monday, December 23, 2024

A proposed tax on the Internet has been put on hold by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Hungary's government was pushing full steam ahead to impose a tax on Internet traffic. It faced huge opposition from the public and from businesses. Mr Orban announced his government had frozen the plans after witnessing huge street protests in the capital Budapest. He also eventually took heed of warnings from the European Union that the tax would be a mistake. Orban announced his climb-down in a radio broadcast on Friday, saying: "This tax in its current form cannot be introduced. If the people not only dislike something but also consider it unreasonable, then it should not be done."
* put on hold = ~을 보류(연기)하다/ full steam ahead = 전력을 기울여; 전속력으로 전진/ impose a tax on ~ = ~에 세금을 부과하다/ take heed of ~ = ~을 주의(조심, 중시)하다/ climb-down = (정세가 불리하다고 보고) (주장 등을) 버림, 양보, 철회; 기어 내려옴   

Hungary's U-turn on an Internet tax is not yet a victory for the people. Prime Minister Orban said he had not scrapped the idea altogether. He said there would be consultations starting in January next year to investigate the potential of generating tax revenue from the Internet. He said it would obviously have to be different in nature to the one just binned. That involved a 60-cent tax one on every gigabyte of data someone consumed. Critics voiced concerns this would limit freedom of expression and hurt online companies. Citizens will continue to campaign for a tax-free Internet. An anti-tax Facebook page already has over 250,000 Likes.
* scrap = 폐기하다, 버리다/ tax revenue = 세수(입)/ bin = 버리다/ voice concern(s) = 우려를 표명하다