Striking assessment from Barış Pehlivan on the fate of earthquake taxes

Veteran journalist Barış Pehlivan provided answers to important questions about how earthquake taxes have been used in his latest column

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Striking assessment from Barış Pehlivan on the fate of earthquake taxes

Journalist and author Barış Pehlivan reminded readers of earthquake taxes once again in his column published in Cumhuriyet today. Stating that the cost of a potential Istanbul earthquake would be 325 billion dollars, Pehlivan emphasized that this cost could have been covered by the taxes collected so far.

Here is the full text of Pehlivan's column:

Let me provide brief answers to the questions everyone is curious about today...

1- What is the Earthquake Tax?

It refers to the taxes introduced following the 1999 earthquakes to cover economic losses. Initially, six separate new additional taxes were levied: Additional Income Tax, Additional Corporate Tax, Additional Property Tax, Additional Motor Vehicle Tax, Special Communication Tax, and Special Transaction Tax. Among these taxes, the Special Communication Tax became permanent. A portion of the fees we pay for the phone calls we make, the internet we use, and the television services we watch is this tax.

Furthermore, with the law enacted after the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes, the Additional Motor Vehicle Tax was collected again in 2023.

2- How much tax has been collected since 1999?

According to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), citing the Revenue Administration as a source, the earthquake taxes collected between 1999 and 2023 correspond to approximately 42.85 billion US dollars. The Special Communication Tax accounts for approximately 39 billion US dollars of this figure.

3- What was done with these collected taxes?

By law, earthquake taxes are pooled in the budget. And because of this, they are spent on all public needs. In 2003, Minister of Finance Kemal Unakıtan had said, “These taxes were not introduced because of the earthquake anyway. If that were the case, they would have been given to earthquake victims.” Again in 2011, Minister of Finance Mehmet Şimşek used the expression, “These taxes go to dual carriageways, railways, airlines, our farmers, and education.” In 2020, Minister of Environment and Urbanization Murat Kurum claimed that “8 times more than the collected taxes has been spent on measures taken against earthquakes.”

4- What is the expected cost of a potential Marmara earthquake to Turkey?

According to the statement made by the Insurance Association of Turkey in 2024, the total cost of a potential Marmara earthquake was calculated at 325 billion dollars.

According to the statement made by İBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in 2023, the cost of making problematic buildings in Istanbul durable was calculated at approximately 19 billion dollars. It is noted that this cost covers 90 thousand heavily or very heavily damaged buildings. Even this cost alone corresponds to a figure far above the annual budget of the İBB. However, the same figure appears to be coverable with the collected earthquake taxes.

5- What was the cost of the investigation into the İBB to Turkey?

Imprisoned İBB Mayor İmamoğlu noted the following in his statement from prison: “The coup against the national will on the morning of March 19 had a cost of trillions of liras to the economy. With such a large budget, we could have renovated approximately 1 million structures or produced at least the same amount of safe housing.”

It was alleged that the Central Bank sold 25 billion dollars during the three-day period following İmamoğlu's detention.

News Source: 12punto