Earthquake tax debates are back on the agenda
The inadequacy of earthquake preparations in Turkey raises questions about the fate of the collected earthquake taxes.
12punto
The special communication tax, introduced after the 1999 earthquakes and known as the "earthquake tax," has become permanent over the years. This tax is applied as a 10 percent deduction from mobile phone, landline, internet, and TV services.
As of 2025, a total of 145 billion liras has been collected from this tax.
According to data from the Ministry of Finance, 45.1 billion liras in revenue is expected from the special communication tax in 2025. However, there are public concerns regarding where this tax is spent. Minister of Finance Mehmet Şimşek states that the taxes are transferred to the general budget and are not allocated to a specific expenditure item.
Following the February 6, 2023 earthquakes, the Disaster Reconstruction Fund was established. This fund was created to finance post-disaster reconstruction and infrastructure works. There is no detailed information available regarding the fund's expenditures.
While the 2025 budget for the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change has been set at 219.2 billion liras, the budget allocated to AFAD stands out at 266.9 billion liras.
In Turkey, post-disaster expenditures receive more resources than pre-disaster preparations.