Practice and effects on taxation of the minimum level livelihood in Turkish income tax

Equality of taxation; including justice and generality principles; expressesimposing tax on tax payers due to ability to pay with necessity of this taxation to befair, to be overall and covering all tax payers. One of the main instruments used torealize these principles is minimum livelihood allowance. The statements used toexpress this technique have taken place in Turkish Constitutional texts besidesUniversal Declaration of Human Rights documents. Minimum livelihood allowance isone of the three methods of ability to pay principle which is the most common leadingmeasure of taxation.Minimum livelihood allowance has been applied with details in leadingdeveloped countries and developing countries.Minimum livelihood/general allowance has been put into force between theyears of 1949-1986 in different ways. It has been abolished by 1986 and replaced byspecial deduction system of real wages. New system has been used only in taxationof real wages, besides ?disability deduction? has been applied furthermore.To predicate on a mean average amount to be applicable to all of the taxpayers and to differentiate this amount due to the marital status, number of childrenetc seems to be most practicable way to determine the minimum livelihoodallowance. It is possible to use official statistical figures besides calculations made bynon-governmental organizations especially syndicates.By the latest studies made in Turkey, the first group of 20 % of thepopulation holds 48 % of the national income and the last group of 20 % of thepopulation holds 6 % of the national income. As the taxation charge in EuropeanUnion Countries, excluding the social security premiums, as of the proportion of taxincomes in the total gross national income, is compared with the data in Turkey; it isseen that Turkey has the most rapidly growing rates of tax charges; that in the last 40years tax charge has increased 240 % in Turkey while increasing 40% in EUCountries and that in the last 20 years tax charge has increased more than 100 % inTurkey while increasing 4% in EU Countries.As a matter of significance, tax scale should better require a zero rate taxtranche or include the minimum livelihood allowance. It is thought that in conformitywith the meaning, an income tax scale which doesn?t include the minimum livelihoodallowance or zero rate tax tranche and consequently the principle of justice and rightto exist, would damage the success of implementation dramatically.