With the deepening of the economic problems in our country, one of the issues that come to the fore the most is the tax and tax system. Tax is a basic indicator that shows the mentality of the state being managed economically. It is enough to look at the tax system applied to see whether the mentality that governs the state is on the side of production or rent, and whether large sections of the population are on the side of money and power holders.
Unfortunately, the tax system and tax practices in Turkey are in favor of rentiers, money holders and the powerful. Without changing the tax system and establishing a fairer tax system that encourages production and employment, Turkey will never reach the point where its economic potential is required.
A healthy tax system should encourage production, investment and employment. However, the tax system in our country encourages people with money to make money from money instead of making investments that will create production and employment. For example; The tax rate that a person who owns capital must pay for the interest income obtained by depositing his money in an account with a maturity of up to 6 months is 15%. The tax rate to be paid for interest income from accounts with a term of 1 year or more is 12%.
On the other hand, the corporate tax rate that an entrepreneur who has invested in establishing a company to produce and create employment has been determined as 23% in 2022. As can be seen from the figures, people with capital are encouraged to exploit the society with interest earnings instead of investing. Without changing this understanding, it is not possible for the capital to be fully invested and employed without taxation at a much higher rate than the income obtained by earning money from money.
Another issue related to the tax system concerns the segments of society that are under heavy tax burden. Unfortunately, the segment under the heaviest tax burden in the current system has been the wage earner segment, which is the lower and middle income segment of the society. Income taxes are collected in advance by deducting them from the wages through withholding. The upper income group of the society, on the other hand, deducts every expenditure from its income as an expense and pays relatively lower amounts of tax by reducing the tax base with its expenses and expenditures.
When the 2021 budget realizations are examined, it is seen that the highest share in tax revenues after indirect taxes is income tax with 219.6 billion TL. The amount of corporate tax collected was 177.9 billion TL. Moreover, this figure was realized in the period when the share of the wage earners in the total economy decreased to 25.4% in 2021, the lowest level of the last 30 years. Moreover, the wage earners bear the indirect tax burden, which corresponds to more than 66% of the total tax revenues, at the same rate as the social segments with a much higher income level.
This picture is clearly cruel and unacceptable in terms of social welfare. Considering the current situation, it will be seen that it is a necessity to spread the tax towards the ceiling by reducing the tax burden of the lower and middle income groups by levying a higher level of tax on the luxury expenditures of the upper-income groups of the society.
As we tried to explain with two examples above, the current tax system is unfair, encourages making money from money, and is not production-oriented, which causes both the state and the nation to lose. It is not possible for the country to develop economically and to increase the welfare of the people without changing this system.
The tax system that we idealize is a production and welfare-oriented tax system, where the state, which is envisaged in a fair economic order, receives a single tax in the form of partnership share in return for the services provided, and there is no informal economy. However, until the transition to a fair order is made, it is one of the primary steps to be taken regarding the economy that the governments from different political views make arrangements that will bring the current tax system as close as possible to the ideal for the development of the country.