Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government wrote off TL 7.5 billion ($227 million) in tax debt and unpaid tax penalties, primarily for wealthy, pro-government companies, between 2013 and 2023, the Birgün daily reported, quoting an opposition lawmaker.
Citing data from the Turkish Revenue Administration, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker Cevdet Akay announced that the government had forgiven tax debt in the amount of TL 2.5 billion and penalties totaling TL 4.9 billion in the last 10 years.
The MP accused the government of unfairly penalizing everyday people who owe taxes while forgiving the tax debts of the rich.
“It seems that the government has rewarded its cronies who don’t pay their taxes,” Akay said.
The MP noted that the figures he provided do not include the 14 tax amnesty laws enacted since the AKP came to power in 2002 and the taxes forgone due to exceptions, exemptions and deductions.
Akay further said that TL 2.2 trillion ($66.5 billion) in taxes will be waived due to exceptions, exemptions and deductions in 2024, with the corporate tax of 44 companies that do public-private partnerships (PPP) and build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects making up TL 657 billion ($19.8 billion) of that amount.
In the past several years, Turkey’s Treasury has guaranteed such notable mega-projects as a third Istanbul bridge, the Osman Ghazi Bridge and the Eurasia Tunnel as well as Istanbul Airport, one of the largest in the world, which are led by the AKP and carried out by pro-government companies, costing Turkish taxpayers millions of dollars annually.
Akay also noted that, although he asked finance ministry officials about the details of the forgiven tax debts at parliament’s Planning and Budget Committee, they failed to provide him with an answer regarding exactly which 44 companies had their corporate taxes forgiven.
“We know which [pro-government] companies these are, and we want our people to know, but the government is doing its best to hide it,” he added.
Cengiz Holding, one of five conglomerates that have been awarded nearly all the large tenders in Turkey during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s time in office, is known to have had its tax debt forgiven.
Critics also alleged in December that the Turkish government’s decision to halve taxes on betting and lotteries was aimed at supporting pro-government media mogul Yıldırım Demirören, who had ventured into the betting business.
The move benefits entities like Demirören Holding, which owns Turkey’s largest media group and supports Erdoğan, and also oversees İddaa, Turkey’s only fixed-odds sports betting game.
Seen by many as favoring pro-government business interests, the tax reduction raised concerns about media independence and political influence in business.