Wealth Tax and inequality discussions from historical perspective: A normative tax proposal

This study, which aims to analyze all aspects of the Wealth Tax, which came into force with Law No. 4305 on 11 November 1942, and to investigate whether it can shed light on a normative wealth tax that can be applied today, consists of five chapters. In the first chapter where the theoretical framework of the study is drawn, it is concluded that the source of inequality in wealth and income distribution is property relations and that the most effective tax policy in this regard is to tax wealth. In the second chapter of the study, Turkey's economic and financial conditions and policies during World War II are analyzed in all aspects on statistical data and it is concluded that the Wealth Tax imposed in 1942 was compulsory in order to create resources for Turkey's current economic conditions and increasing public expenditures, especially defense. In the third chapter of the study, the Wealth Tax was investigated with all its aspects and statistical data, and it was concluded that the Wealth Tax contributed greatly to the financing of increasing public expenditures from its legal justifications, and that it was partially successful in its other legal justifications. However, in the same chapter, it was concluded that many issues that needed to be regulated in the first legal text of the Wealth Tax were left incomplete, but some of these deficiencies were later remedied with decrees, instructions and practices. Again, regarding the issue of inequality towards minorities with the Wealth Tax, it was determined that although the Wealth Tax was applied more to minorities in terms of amount, this was a natural result in terms of the wealth levels of the period, and no legal regulation regarding the Wealth Tax included any discriminatory expression regarding minorities, the Wealth Tax, which belonged to minorities in the majority regardless of whether they were minorities or not, was cancelled, and finally, as a result of the application of this tax, minorities mostly maintained their former places in the distribution of wealth. In the fourth chapter of the study, a comparative analysis of the Wealth Tax and extraordinary taxes such as the Wealth Tax applied in the Ottoman Empire, the United States and England during World War I, the National Solidarity Tax applied in France due to World War II and finally the Net Wealth Tax applied in Turkey in 1994 was made. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that extraordinary taxes and the Wealth Tax have some similarities, and that many aspects of the Wealth Tax and the National Solidarity Tax applied in a country with a deep-rooted legal system such as France are similar. In the last chapter of the study, the level of inequality in wealth and income distribution in Turkey during World War II and today is analyzed using various and some data, and it is concluded that the level of inequality in Turkey during World War II and today is at very serious levels, and that the Wealth Tax implemented during World War II relatively curbed the increase in inequality in this period, albeit in a short period of time, and that ultimately a normative wealth tax is needed to combat today's inequality and prevent the concentration of wealth.