From the 2026 budget audit
161 milliárd Ft labelled 'miscellaneous' — what does it fund?
A 161 milliárd Ft catch-all expenditure line with no public itemisation: parliament and every taxpayer fund a pool whose contents the budget document does not disclose.
Roughly 40,250 Ft per taxpayer per year — 161 milliárd Ft behind a single opaque label, not itemised in the budget.
What you see — and what you don't
The seen: whatever the catch-all actually funds — not visible from the budget document. The unseen: the scrutiny function that itemisation would provide, and every taxpayer whose contribution flows into a pool parliament cannot read line by line.
Objection
"Some expenditure genuinely cannot be specified in advance — a miscellaneous line is normal budget management practice."
Answer
A contingency allocation for unforeseen operational costs is defensible. A 161 milliárd Ft line labelled only 'miscellaneous' is not a contingency reserve — it is a low-visibility discretionary pool. Lack of itemisation is itself the finding. Freeze at current nominal levels; future budgets should itemise it so parliament and the public can see what it funds.
Share if you think a 161 milliárd Ft budget line should come with an itemised breakdown.
The analyst's verdict
Other miscellaneous expenditures
Rationale
The large Egyéb vegyes kiadások catch-all (161,033.4 millió Ft) is opaque by construction: a 161 milliárd Ft line labelled "other miscellaneous expenditures" is, from a public-choice standpoint, exactly the kind of low-visibility discretionary pool whose lack of itemisation is itself the finding. It cannot be cut on the strength of a label, but it should not be expanded; Nominal Freeze, with a recommendation that future budgets itemise it.
Transition mechanism
Nominal Freeze — hold at 161,033.4 millió Ft in nominal terms. No indexation to inflation. Recommendation that future budgets itemise the line so that parliament and the taxpayer can see what this 161 milliárd Ft funds.
Affected groups
Recipients of unitemised miscellaneous budget expenditures (undefined by construction of the catch-all); parliament and taxpayers, who lack visibility into the composition of the line.
Free Society Institute
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