Enflasyon ve vergileme

Abstract

SUMMARY The aim of this paper is to show the results that the effects of inflation cause on tax exemptions (exclusion, deduction etc.) from the point of view of taxpayers' and government's point of view. Inflation is an sensible and steady increase on the general level of prices. Therefore, the purchase impact of money decreases in the inflationary periods. Since tax isa monetary value and unless an adjustment e s being done, i t loses some functions, such as ability-to-pay principle, efficient and equitable income distribution principle. As to this condition yields various results for taxpayers and government while inflation proves government to' obtain more tax revenue by disturbing the structure of the progressive personal income tax, it entails government to come out the revenue loses because of administrative lags in the system of personal income tax. That is, inflation has got two important contradictions to one another from the point of view of taxpayers and government: 1. Increasing of Tax Burden Revenue 2. Effects of Administrative Lags 1. Increasing of Tax Burden Revenue A progressive income tax system is affected by inflation both with respect to the real value of tax allowances and to the structure of tax brackets and progressive rates. As inflation will reduce substantially the real value of most tax allowances in the system of income taxation, this will lead to a more progressive effect on income taxation, even in the case of a proportional structure of tax rates. If moreover, the rate structure of income taxation is progressive, nominal increases inIncome may move taxpayers Into higher tax brackets, thus leading an increases real tax burden. But in this situation government can obtain more tax revenue. This is the concept of inflation as a form of or as an alternative to taxation with respect to the function of transferring real purchasing power to the public sector. 2. Effects of Administrative Lags The other effect of inflation on the tax system has been a massive eroison of real tax revenues. Together with legal lags there may be illegal delays in payment. The higher the rate of inflation and the less inflation-adapted the penalties for these illegal transfers, the more tax loses are from the point of view of government. But taxpayers pay less money, as inflation reduce purchasing power of money in the long term. In this paper, the first chapter is a theorical statement- explained above- In the second chapter, the impact of inflation on the institutions of Turkish Personal Income Tax is intensively analyzed to explain with a lot of examples and measures. Inflation disturbs income distribution to related with its effects of on the tax system. We made a measure to show this situation for Turkey. According to this, the tax loses that government comes out from a person who receives minimum wage who pays his/her tax on the average 1,5 months later - Because the time between earning his income and paying his tax is 1;5 months- Be cause the time between earning his/her income and paying his/her tax is 1,5 months- and a merchant who pays his/her tax on the average 12,5 months later. We have developed a model that measures the tax loses of goverment as a result of these delays, According to results of measure that we made, the tax burden of a person who earns minimum wage is heavier than others. That is,while goverment faced 11.2% tax loses from a person who earns minimum wage, it faced an 51.2% tax loses from a mercant in Turkey in 1994. In third chapter, it is explained that the forms of solution in Turkey's practice to eliminate the negative effects of inflation and besides that some solutions are propesed by us. Some of these are: indexation, shortening administrative lags (i.e. Paying the tax one every 3 months), widening tax brackets as parallel to the rate of inflation, using the inflation accounts, etc. Inflation reduces real value of minimum living allowance, limits of exclusions and therefore, it increases the tax burden of person who benefit from these. xii