Tax Schedules From The Perspective Of Taxpayers: Turkey Experience

Abstract

In particular, the structure of ad valorem tax schedules is a controversial topic in public finance literature. Some people argue that the tax schedules should be progressive or degressive depending on the amount of income. Also some people argue that the income increasing should not affect the tax schedules (flat tax). This paper is prepared for this purpose would be carried out to determine the taxpayers' preferences and the main factors which affect this choice. In the study, the opinions of taxpayers about ad valorem taxes are asked by using a questionnaire which is prepared by me. 1520 taxpayers' preferences especially about personal income tax are determined and the factors which define the preferences are presented with the ordered probit regression analysis. 70% of taxpayers prefer progressive taxation, 18% of taxpayers prefer flat tax and 12% of taxpayers prefer degressive taxation. According to regression results the main factors which influence the taxpayers' preferences about tax schedules are public expenditures, trend of tax evasion, perception of shadow economy, business competition, perception of social security contributions, tax burden, tax justice, religion, conventionality, age, job and education level. ÖzÖzellikle advalorem vergi tarifelerinin yapısının nasıl olması gerektiği, maliye literatüründe tartışmalı bir konudur. Gelir artışına bağlı olarak vergi tarifelerinin yapısının artan veya azalan oranlı olması gerektiğini ileri sürenler olduğu gibi, gelir artışının vergi tarifesini etkilememesi gerektiğini (düz oranlı vergi tarifesi) ileri sürenler de vardır. Bu çalışma, vergi mükelleflerinin vergi tarifeleri konusundaki tercihlerini ve bu tercihleri etkileyen temel faktörleri belirlemek amacıyla hazırlanmıştır. Çalışmada mükelleflere, tarafımızdan hazırlanan anket eşliğinde advalorem vergi tarifeleri hakkındaki görüşleri sorulmuştur. 1520 vergi mükellefinin özellikle gelir vergisi hakkındaki tercihleri ve ordered probit regresyon analizleri ile bu tercihleri belirleyen faktörler ortaya konmuştur. Mükelleflerin %70'i artan oranlı vergilemeyi, %18'i düz oranlı vergilemeyi ve %12'si de azalan oranlı vergilemeyi tercih etmektedir. Regresyon sonuçlarına göre, mükelleflerin vergi tarifeleri hakkındaki tercihlerini 1 This article is the revised and extended version of the paper presented in "Second

The Impact of Tax Apportionment on Fiscal Equalization: A Case Study of Turkish Metropolitan Municipalities

“…These shares are calculated monthly by the Ministry of Finance and transferred directly to these municipalities The rate of consumption is decreasing as income increases. In a study by Zenginobuz et al (2006) (quoted in Demir, 2013), the share of the consumption tax was investigated by using the shares allocated to consumption as of 20% income groups. In this study, the tax burden on group consumption with the lowest income level of 20% corresponds to 22.9% of the household income; the rate of household income was found to be 16.3% for the ones with the highest income level of 20%.…”