Tax tyranny

The complaints of labor unions regarding taxes ring in our ears every day. In meetings held daily, suggestions are made to the government for tax cuts and for more reasonable treatment of laborers. However, almost no results are achieved from these. The subject I want to discuss with you today is how disconnected from reality the implementation is and that no results can be achieved with such measures. Yes, this statement was a bit harsh; it has an air of avoiding the struggle. However, unfortunately, this is the truth, and I am writing these things thinking that I am obligated to state this truth with my academic title.

I must state immediately that we are heading into a knife-edge election, and the AKP wants to ensure the perpetual continuation of government protection over families and the party through the constitutional change they have in mind, by winning major cities, especially Istanbul, at any cost. Under these conditions, they may respond to some demands, even if only partially, these days. This response will not only fail to reveal what I have said, but on the contrary, as a very serious deception, they may even gain the support of a segment of the public once again with these deceptions. But as it is always said, after the elections, especially if they get the result they want, they will take back everything they gave, and even more than what they gave, because since the government does not have the strength to give what is demanded today, everything given will have been given temporarily and as an election bargain. This is exactly the situation we must not be deceived by.

Now let's come to the real problem; that is, why is the government attacking the laborer and the retiree as if it is strangling them? The reason for this is that most of the infrastructure-type investments we benefit from have been made both above Turkey's capacity and under very costly conditions. This situation has placed a heavy burden on the country's economy. Placing this burden on capital could lead to capital flight, as well as prevent the entry of foreign capital that we urgently need. In addition to the accumulated debts we have to pay, meeting new debts caused by the high and constantly rising current account deficit is only possible by attracting foreign savings into the economy. The fact that the head of state wears out the doors of our oil-rich southern neighbors as if offending the country's pride is for the same reason. Today, the strangling of laborers and retirees is the exact same thing as and the result of the desperate need for foreign capital. In short, capital is strong within the country, and the economy's need for capital makes it mandatory to shift tax burdens away from capital.

I did not write all of this as my personal preference or as things my heart desires. The reason I explain all of this in this way is, first, that the system is capitalist and we are going through a period where imperialism is at its strongest, and second, that the AKP administration, which we brought to power with our votes, is the only government in the century-long Republican era that has behaved in the most accommodating way toward global imperialism. I state what I have said so strictly to express that it is mandatory for our people, especially our laboring friends, to reconsider their political choices, and that if they bring the AKP and similar political structures to power in these global conditions, they will not be facing a situation better than the current one.

Our laboring friends must first and foremost focus on the exploitation at the production stage. Let's think about it. If a laboring friend of ours cannot make ends meet with the wage they receive in return for working with their blood and soul and has to use a credit card, this situation needs to be interpreted seriously. The meaning of our laborers' necessity to resort to credit cards today is that capital is increasing the exploitation of the laborer both by cutting wages and by sending them to the finance boss. The laborer is entering a second layer of exploitation by paying interest to the finance boss. This double-roasted order of exploitation is a clear indicator of the multi-layered exploitation order of the neoliberalism and financialization stage of capitalism. Here, our laboring friends and our very valuable union leaders should explain these situations to our people in very clear language, perceive what the financial institutions under luxury-looking glass windows cost the laborer and society, and how some politicians we value allow these institutions to stab a knife into the bosom of the country and our people to the detriment of the public, and make their political choices accordingly.

The DİSK statement reports that the proposed changes in tax laws in favor of the laborer will be discussed in parliament on the last day of January. This news offers a little relief to hearts. Let's see what the result will be!

This subject can be explained in much more detail. Within this framework, suffice it to say that as a final sentence, the policies that upset us greatly today, even impoverish us, along with the policies that are staged and the practices that seem superficially refreshing to us and are advanced bit by bit, are nothing more than the appearance of a puppet. The puppet may seem pleasant to us with its first appearance, just as the loans we receive from financial institutions have the effect of slightly relieving us. But there is a cruel puppeteer who plays that puppet by making it look pleasant to us and distracts our attention elsewhere while sucking our blood, and the puppeteer's base minions. The point is that if we continue to lick the candy apple given to us with cute puppets, we will make the puppeteer and his friends happy, but we will drag ourselves into disaster.

To elaborate on this subject more deeply in the future, goodbye, my dear readers!