The companies tried to compensate those who suffered the consequences of the VAT changes in Hungary, but they had little success. (Due to the initiation of the flat tax rate of 16 % everyone suffered losses whose gross income was under HUF 290 thousand, not taking into account the family tax relief.) According to the Hay Group’s survey the wage gap between ordinary workers and their managers broadened by 40 % in the private sector, even though the companies gave workers a rise that was 1% higher.
In case of gross incomes the wage gap did not change significantly compared to last year’s, meaning that a senior manager earns 6.2 times more than a secretary this year. This rate is customary in the region, although the Czech and Slovak indicators are better. On the other hand we are far from American and Scandinavian rates where the difference is only three-fold.
Unfortunately the positive effect of the flat personal income tax only appears over a gross income of more than HUF 300 thousand, and only 20% of all employees fell into that bracket. According to the Hay Group’s survey, a senior manager could cash in HUF 5 million more due to the tax regime changes in 2011.