The 2023 budget law proposal was submitted to the Parliament by the Presidency. For the year 2022, a budget bill containing 2 trillion 831 billion TL of expenditure and 2 trillion 553 billion was prepared, but when the budget was not sufficient, a new additional budget draft worth 1 trillion 80 billion TL was brought to the Parliament and approved at the end of 6 months in June. With the budget revision made, the 2022 budget had a deficit of 128.8 billion TL in the first 10 months.
Considering that the budget is revised at the end of the first 6 months, it will be seen more clearly that the budget deficit is actually a very high amount and the failure of the budget management. While the amount allocated to interest payments was foreseen as 330 billion TL in the 2022 budget, interest expenditures were realized as 268 billion 255 million TL in the January-October period. In other words, the amount allocated from the budget to interest payments continues to increase exponentially with each passing day.
In the 2023 budget law proposal announced by Vice President Fuat Oktay, an expenditure of 4.470 billion TL and a revenue of 3 trillion 762 million TL were envisaged. However, considering the government's budget management in recent years, it is clearly seen that it is not possible to realize the targeted amounts. The first noteworthy situation regarding the budget is the expectation of a large budget deficit exceeding 700 million TL.
Considering the fact that there is a critical election in our country in the upcoming period and that the populist governments that seek to save the day tend to make extraordinary expenditures by applying election budgets in order to win the election, it will not be difficult to predict that the budget deficit will be much higher than anticipated. In other words, the possible budget deficit may be well above 700 billion TL. The second important figure in the budget bill is the anticipated interest expense amount. Interest expenditures for the 2023 budget are foreseen as 566 billion TL.
In other words, interest expenses in the 2023 budget are 71% higher than the amount of interest expenses foreseen for the 2022 budget. The fact that the budget interest expenditures have increased at such a high rate in a one-year period is a clear indicator of how empty the perception of fighting interest is that the government is trying to create. Another striking figure is the amount allocated from the budget for R&D activities. The amount allocated for R&D from the 2023 budget was announced as 18.6 billion TL. The fact that the amount allocated for R&D remained at 18.6 billion TL in a budget law proposal envisaging 566 billion TL for interest payments is striking in terms of revealing how problematic the mentality that manages the economy is.
When the revenue items in the budget law proposal are examined, it is seen that 3 trillion 200 billion TL of the 3 trillion 762 billion TL income projection is tax revenues. In other words, according to the budget law proposal, 85% of the public revenues will be obtained from the tax revenues that will be loaded on the back of the citizens. When the sub-headings of tax revenues are examined; Corporate Tax is expected to be 619.1 billion TL and Income Tax is expected to be 495 billion TL. As a striking figure, the share of indirect taxes in total taxes is still above 65%.
The expected income from SCT alone is 510.6 billion TL. These figures indicate that a much heavier burden will be placed on our citizens in the coming year, especially in indirect taxes. The expected revenue from traffic fines is foreseen as 15.4 billion TL.
Summary; When the budget figures are examined, it is seen that the prepared budget was initially a very high budget deficit, interest and tax burden budget. Since the election budget is likely to be implemented until the election, it is likely that the reflection of the budget to the citizens will be felt more clearly and heavily, especially after the election.