Vol. I · The 2026 Budget Audit
A classical-liberal audit of Hungary's 2026 budget — line by line.
All 42 chapters of the central budget, line by line: every item costed, classified, and open to challenge — alongside a ten-year renewal programme that closes the deficit.
The 2026 central budget
Audited- Total expenditure
- 43,781 HUF billion
- Total revenue
- 39,563 HUF billion
- Chapters audited
- 42
- Year-1 saving
- 2,233 HUF billion
Flagship study · May 2026
Hungary 2026: A Classical-Liberal Budget Audit
A line-by-line audit of all 42 chapters of Hungary's 2026 central budget, plus a ten-year renewal programme that closes the deficit and funds a Tax Reform Dividend. The sequence is explicit: the tax wedge on labour first, then consumption taxes, with sectoral surtaxes last. Grounded in the classical liberal tradition, and published openly for critique and revision.
42
chapters audited, with line-item analysis
2,233 HUF bn
Year-1 saving · 5.1% of expenditure
10 years
renewal programme with a Tax Reform Dividend
The findings
Where the 2026 budget goes
Every line item measured against the same declared standard — from the largest ministries down to the smallest item: keep, freeze, phase out, or cut.
2,233 HUF billion
identified Year-1 saving · 5.1% of expenditure
- Keep 33 738 milliárd Ft 77%
- Nominal Freeze 2 027 milliárd Ft 5%
- Phase-Out 7 402 milliárd Ft 17%
- Immediate Cut 614 milliárd Ft 1%
How we work
AI-assisted. Principle-driven. Fully transparent.
01
Every line item, analysed
A multi-agent AI system — a network of coordinated analytical models running in parallel — reads every one of the 42 chapters of Hungary's 2026 budget, across thousands of line items, applying the same analytical framework throughout. At a scale and pace no human team could sustain.
02
A declared lens
We work in the classical liberal tradition: Mises and Hayek on Austrian economics, Buchanan and Tullock on public choice, Röpke and Eucken on the ordoliberal rule of law, North and Coase on institutional economics. We declare our analytical perspective rather than hide it.
03
Open to correction
We document everything. Not every figure has been checked by hand — we say so openly, and we welcome corrections. Rigorous scrutiny of our numbers is exactly what we hope to provoke.
Who we are
Our mission
The tools of the classical liberal tradition
Mises and Hayek on Austrian economics, Buchanan and Tullock on public choice, Röpke and Eucken on the ordoliberal rule of law, North and Coase on institutional economics — concrete methods, not an abstract worldview.
Traced to source, open to challenge
Knowledge grows through error correction. We trace every figure back to its source, publish every conclusion openly, and welcome corrections.
The long-run cost of intervention
Under which institutional conditions can Hungary become both freer and more prosperous, and what real transition costs does any serious reform carry — those are the questions we examine.
Research
Latest publications
Hungary 2026: A Classical-Liberal Budget Audit
Master Whitepaper
A line-by-line audit of all 42 chapters of Hungary's 2026 central budget — and a ten-year renewal programme that closes the deficit and funds a Tax Reform Dividend.
Read publicationTisza Programme: Intersection with the Renewal Programme
Intersection Brief
A section-by-section assessment: where the Tisza party programme aligns with the renewal programme, where it diverges, and where it contradicts it — with the prosperity gap quantified where the two part ways.
Read publicationChapter I — National Assembly
The National Assembly chapter classifies HUF 348 billion of legislative, regulatory, and discretionary spending — protecting what is constitutionally indispensable while phasing out party-foundation grants and prestige capital programmes.
Read publicationFree Society Institute
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