Citizen objected, Constitutional Court revoked decision of exorbitant tax increase

Filiz Freifrau and İnci Sieber, who live in Munich, Germany, came across a surprise on the ground where they had been operating an eco-camp for years in Burhaniye, Balıkesir, 5 years ago.

According to their own statements, an exorbitant tax increase was made for the land that they earned around 100-140 thousand TL per year. The Municipal Valuation Commission increased the unit value per square meter on its land to 780 TL for 2018.

They argued that the value of the appreciated square meter unit affects the amount of income tax and some other taxes that must be paid in addition to the high amount of property tax, and therefore faced a total tax burden of 680,000 TL. .

Two citizens went to court when their objections to the municipality were rejected. On request; They stated that their properties cannot be built, however, it is not fair to assess them on the same scale as the villas around them, which are very valuable and have no problem attracting clients.

“THEY ARE FORCING US TO SELL”

The citizens, who alleged in the petition that they were exposed to an excessive tax burden based on the value determined by the Appreciation Commission, also pointed out that this situation forced them to sell the land and violated their property rights.

“NOT SUITABLE FOR FINANCIAL STRENGTH”

The Constitutional Court, to which citizens who could not obtain positive results from the lower courts individually appealed, made the following assessment:

“As a result, considering whether the fact that the applicants’ real estate is used for camp management purposes affects the current value and, therefore, the unit value of the square meter to the minimum extent that is the base of the tax on property, it has been concluded that the intervention in the right to property through the taxation of wealth does not conform to the principle of taxation according to financial power, and therefore does not meet the condition of proportionality”.

“THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY HAS BEEN VIOLATED”

The Supreme Court ruled that the right to property was violated in its provision. The Constitutional Court ruled that a copy of the decision be sent to the Balıkesir Tax Court to eliminate the consequences of the violation of property rights and rejected the claim for compensation of the plaintiffs.