From the 2026 budget audit
1.1 milliárd Ft for 'industrial development' — which industry, chosen by whom?
A discretionary ministerial allocation for industrial development with no statutory mandate and no public selection process — the ministry decides which sector or firm receives support.
Roughly 287 Ft per taxpayer per year — 1,148 millió Ft total, directed at industrially favoured recipients by administrative decision rather than market test.
What you see — and what you don't
The seen: industrial firms or sectors receiving development grants from the ministerial budget. The unseen: the competitor firm in the same sector that does not receive the grant — and which faces the additional disadvantage of having its own tax fund the subsidy to its competitor.
Objection
"Industrial policy is how successful economies develop — governments need to support key industries."
Answer
The argument for industrial policy depends on identifying a specific market failure — a genuine externality, a coordination problem — that the discretionary grant addresses. An undifferentiated ministerial line for 'industrial development' names no market failure, tests no criterion, and produces no public evidence that the grants went where the returns were highest. Equal treatment — the same tax rate, the same property protection — for every industrial firm is the honest alternative.
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The analyst's verdict
Industrial-development tasks
Rationale
Classified on the same basis as Egyéb vállalkozásfejlesztési feladatok above: a discretionary ministerial allocation with no market-price signal, no statutory mandate, and no protected counterparties. Immediate cut.
Transition mechanism
Eliminate in the 2026 budget cycle.
Affected groups
Recipient firms — a discretionary benefit, not a protected right.
Free Society Institute
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