How loyal is Kocaeli to his taxes?
Tolga UĞUR
The province with the highest tax collection rate in September was again Kocaeli. The Ministry of Treasury and Finance announced the rates of accrual and collection of general budget revenues at the provincial level for September. According to data, 2 trillion 982 billion lira in taxes were collected throughout the country in September. The tax accumulation in September amounted to 3.8 trillion lire. Thus, the tax collection rate nationwide last month was 77.67 percent. This rate was recorded as the highest figure of the year. While the collection rate in August was 74.92 percent, in January, when the lowest data of the year occurred, only 35.27 percent of the expected revenue could be collected.
MIDDLE OF ISTANBUL
Most of the tax revenue goes to Turkey’s most populous city, Istanbul. According to 2022 statistics, the city, where 18.6 percent of the Turkish population lives, received 47.41 percent of tax revenue in September. In other words, almost half of September’s tax revenue went to Istanbul. After Istanbul, the largest share went to the capital Ankara with 11.54 percent and Izmir with 10.57 percent.
If analyzed at the provincial level, the city most loyal to its taxes was Kocaeli. Kocaeli took first place by achieving 92.06 percent of the planned collection with tax revenues of 318.3 billion lira. Mersin ranks second with a collection rate of 84.9 percent and Istanbul ranks third with 84.84 percent. The province with the lowest tax collection rate was Karabük with 32.37 percent. Karabük is followed by Şırnak with a collection rate of 32.71 percent and Kilis with a collection rate of 32.89 percent. While the national collection rate of 77.67 percent was surpassed in 17 provinces, 64 provinces fell behind the national average.
It reached 3 billion lire.
After the May elections, citizens’ tax burden increased exponentially. According to data, in September tax revenues exceeded 2.9 trillion lire. The amount of tax collection, which was 252.8 billion lira in January, exceeded 1 trillion lira in May and 2 trillion lira in July. The amount collected increased by 400 billion lire monthly in September.