A new element in tax collection: Tribute

The planned amendments to the Law No. 3238 on Certain Arrangements Regarding the Defense Industry, dated 7/11/1985, are being justifiably debated by the public in recent days.

First and foremost, it must be stated that these changes represent a complete regression in public financial management. During the Özal era, the number of funds, which increased day by day, reached such a large volume and operated so recklessly that they had effectively become black holes. For this reason, their liquidation became inevitable in the post-2000 period.

One of the fundamental objectives of the Public Financial Management and Control Law No. 5018, which was enacted as part of the fiscal reforms following the 2000 crisis, was to ensure that the resources belonging to the numerous funds were transferred to the budget.

Article 13 of the same Law also contains the provision that "It is essential that specific revenues are not allocated to specific expenditures." This provision is not unique to Turkish legislation; on the contrary, it is a universally applied budgetary principle. The purpose of this principle is to prevent those who use public resources from bypassing budget implementation rules and making arbitrary expenditures.

Therefore, the enactment of the current draft is not only contrary to Law No. 5018 and universal budgetary principles, but it also means returning to the black-hole policies of the 90s.

It must be stated once again that it is not possible for the political power to transfer the taxes and additional taxes planned to be imposed on certain services and products to the defense industry under this budget system, under the pretext that they will be transferred to the defense industry. A similar situation occurred with earthquake taxes. The collected taxes did not go to earthquake relief, but to hospitality, leasing, and debt interest. Now we are facing the same situation.

Another problem is that according to the Turkish Tax System, tax is levied on wealth, income, and expenditure. You cannot levy, impose, or collect taxes outside of these three elements. Which element of taxation does taxing credit cards with limits over 100,000 liras fall under? None of them. For this reason, it is not only illegal but also inconsistent with the principle of justice. What remains is the element of 'tribute' illegally imposed by the political power. These situations push the tax system into the informal economy. Remember, imposing high taxes does not lead to high tax revenue. Sometimes, due to reactions, it leads to less tax revenue. The political power's exploitation of citizens' patriotic feelings by using a subject like the defense industry and love for the homeland is another problem in terms of political ethics...