New development in the SGK debt controversy: AKP's preparations regarding CHP-run municipalities revealed

AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's remarks directed at CHP leader Özgür Özel, stating, "If you want to be of service to retirees, give instructions for your municipalities to pay their accumulated debts to the Social Security Institution. Our Ministry of Treasury and Finance will begin collecting the municipalities' debts at the source," have sparked a controversy over SGK debts between the government and the opposition.

Gazete Pencere columnist Nuray Babacan reported the details of the process initiated for the rapid collection of municipal debts following Erdoğan's remarks.

"The government is planning the continuation of its move, which aims to punish those who voted for the CHP after the local election failure. It has emerged that the legal regulation, which will further strain municipalities, will be sent to the TBMM in October. This attitude of the government, which has decided to rapidly collect debts mostly incurred during the terms of AKP mayors, is being evaluated in political circles with the words, 'This is what the AKP understands by normalization!'" wrote Babacan, who shared the information she obtained from AKP backchannels as follows:

"There is a background to the process initiated for the rapid collection of municipal debts following President Tayyip Erdoğan's words. The ruling party, which decided to collect accumulated municipal debts after losing the local elections following years of waiting, has prepared a draft law. It was learned that the legal regulation will be brought to the agenda after the TBMM opens in October."

"IT EMERGED THAT IT WAS LEFT TO OCTOBER AT THE LAST MINUTE"

"It emerged that the draft article prepared by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance was planned to be included in one of the laws passed this month, but was left to October at the last minute. The draft regulation envisions that 'the current debts of municipalities will be deducted primarily from the shares allocated to them from general budget tax revenues.'

The regulation planned to be implemented aims for 'the collection of taxes accrued on income (withholding) tax and value-added tax returns of special provincial administrations, municipalities, institutions affiliated with these administrations, and legal entities belonging to them, as well as social security premiums, by deducting them from the share to be paid to these administrations in the month following the due date.'"

"In the justification of the draft, it was also admitted that municipalities, most of which are held by the AKP, have exceeded their 10-year payment periods," stated Babacan, continuing her article:

"It has emerged that the debts incurred by AKP mayors will also be collected in municipalities that have passed to the CHP. The justification stated, 'The tax and SGK premium debts of municipalities, their affiliated institutions, and municipal companies are constantly increasing, and although 10-year payment opportunities were provided within the scope of restructuring laws, the conditions of these laws are not met, and the provisions of the restructuring are violated.' It was stated that the draft aims to collect taxes accrued on income (withholding) tax and value-added tax returns of special provincial administrations, municipalities, institutions affiliated with these administrations, and legal entities belonging to them, as well as social security premiums, by deducting them from the share to be paid to these administrations in the month following the due date, by making an amendment to Article 7 of Law No. 5779."

WHAT HAD HAPPENED?

Erdoğan, targeting the opposition at his party's group meeting, had said that they were making a regulation for the collection of debts from municipalities.

Erdoğan had used the following expressions:

"They think organizing waltz and dance shows is municipalism. Incompetence, lack of skill, and ideological bigotry are practically dripping from them. I would like to say this to the CHP Chairman here; honest politics requires standing behind the promises made. You cannot hide the embarrassment of the promises you did not keep by making bigger promises. If you have the power, tell your mayors to lower the prices of the services they promised to provide 'for free' to get votes from the nation, but for which they have raised prices 3-4 times in 3 months.

If you want to be of service to retirees, give instructions for your municipalities to pay their accumulated debts to the Social Security Institution. It is easy to say in the squares, 'We will give free tractors to those who vote for us'; what is difficult is to be a person of your word and to remain loyal to your oath. Currently, our Ministry of Treasury and Finance will begin collecting these debts at the source regarding the debts of the municipalities. There is no such thing as a free lunch. There is no permission to spend the nation's assets in different places. Therefore, the Ministry of Treasury and Finance will now collect this at the source, know this as such."

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, on the other hand, stated that the most indebted municipalities are those they took over from the AKP and said, "If you think you will wear down the CHP by putting municipalities in a difficult situation and disrupting public services, you are mistaken. The nation is behind us. The nation sees this and will hold you accountable at the first ballot box. The most indebted municipalities are those we took over from the AKP. Now they are trying to deduct from us the money they did not pay themselves."

News Source: 12punto