From the 2026 budget audit
1.7 billion forints to run an office 82% self-funded by its users.
NKFI's materials, IT and services budget — held flat for an office whose fee income already covers 82% of its total operating costs.
Roughly 790 Ft per full-time taxpayer per year — 1,733 millió Ft in operating costs, largely offset by fee revenue from the certification users who drive most of that spending.
What you see — and what you don't
The seen: 1,733 millió Ft of materials, utilities and services maintaining a 234-person government office. The unseen: the users of R&D certifications and accreditations who already pay fees covering 82% of this operating cost — meaning most of this line is already recovered from identifiable users, not spread indiscriminately across all taxpayers.
Objection
"But the office provides essential services — without it, companies could not get their R&D spending certified for the tax credit."
Answer
That is precisely why 82% of the operating cost is recovered in user fees: the companies that need the certifications pay for them. Holding the operating budget flat at 1,733 millió Ft prevents expansion of a line that already has a market signal — the fees paid — telling it where service demand exists.
Share if you think a government service that already charges for most of its work should be held at its current scale, not expanded.
The analyst's verdict
NKFI Office — Operating expenditures
Rationale
Materials, utilities, IT, services and the recurring operating cost of running the office. It tracks the office's scale; with the office held to a nominal freeze, its operating budget carries the same treatment. The administrative cost of separately litigating an operating-budget cut would exceed the saving, and the bounded nature of the function does not justify expansion.
Transition mechanism
Hold at 1,733.4 millió Ft nominal; real-terms erosion enforces efficiency discipline.
Affected groups
Suppliers of routine office goods and services; the effect is gradual real-terms compression, not termination.
Free Society Institute
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