Is it ok to pay women to have more children?

Beyond Today

BBC

News

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2019

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

Hungarian women with four or more children won’t have to pay income tax for the rest of their working lives, according to a plan announced by the country’s prime minister Viktor Orban. He says it’s to reverse Hungary’s falling population rate, critics argue it’s a way of controlling immigration. We speak to the BBC’s Nick Thorpe, who lives and works in Budapest with his 5 children. And we also hear from author Thomas Chatterton Williams who is writing a book on racial identity, about what links this Hungarian policy to the global far right. Producers: Philly Beaumont & Georgia Coan Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:06.3	Hello, I'm Matthew Price.
0:07.8	This is Beyond Today from BBC Radio 4.
0:10.4	Every day we ask one big question about one big story.
0:14.0	Today, is it okay to pay women to have more children?
0:27.0	Philly? Yes. You're constantly going on about your kids. Yes, that's true. They are, they're
0:38.5	the love of your life, aren't they? Yeah, they are. Yes, they are. Oh, they say it was feeling?
0:42.3	Yes, they are. They're the love of my life.
0:45.0	So...
0:46.0	How many have you got?
0:47.0	I've got four, four girls.
0:49.0	Are they delightful, all the time?
0:51.0	Yes, all the time.
0:52.0	Although one of them has just got on the day
0:55.7	detention for wearing her coat in school. That's ridiculous. Maybe it was cold in
1:00.7	school. Yes maybe. Anyway the reason we're talking about your children and the fact you have four is because you, if you
1:05.8	lived in Hungary, you qualify under this new law that the Prime Minister is bringing in.
1:10.0	Yes, because apparently if you have more than four kids you don't ever have to pay income tax again.
1:16.2	So I thought, well P, let's move to Hungary or at least go on holiday and see if we like it.
1:20.4	What, see if you can claim the money?
1:21.4	Well, yeah, why not?
1:22.4	Well it does sound like an amazing idea, but actually when you delve into it, you realize
	...

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