Special consumption tax in Turkish fiscal system

In our times, the tax system of the countries consists of taxes on income, wealth, and consumption. Consumption taxes, in terms of easiness of application and bringing high revenue, have become one of the most important elements of the tax system. Consumption taxes are divided in two categories as taxes on "general consumption? and taxes on ?special consumption".The background of special consumption tax, which has started to take place in Turkish tax system since 2002 years, goes rather old times, in world fiscal history. There are two main purposes of giving place to special consumption tax in tax systems. First to obtain public revenue. Secondly, to set limitation on consumption of products/goods, materials, of which consumption may be harmful to the public. Special consumption taxes differ from value added tax which is charged at all stages as production and consumption, and are applied only at a certain stage and only on certain goods and services. Although its back ground in Turkish tax system is very short, for the speciality of the goods it covers, and for the sake of high tax rates, in a very short time it has reached the share of value added tax, which is a "general consumption tax". Although the tendency of consumption taxes over the world is rather towards the "general consumption tax", in some developing countries like Turkey, the system operates reversely. The purpose of this thesis is, by comparing with other countries, to analyse the implementation of special consumption tax and development of its share in overall tax revenue in Turkish fiscal system. The thesis has been prepared in three sections. In the first section, first focused on the concept of the fiscal system and on the Turkish Fiscal System. Subsequently the taxes taken place in Turkish Fiscal System are explained from historical aspect, than present Turkish tax system as of various taxes therein are briefly mentioned. In the second section first focused on the theory of special consumption tax and then on the general trend of special consumption tax around the world. Then focused on implementation of special consumption tax in the other countries. In the third section implementation of special consumption tax in Turkey is analyzed. Both structural and fiscal analysis is included in the analysis. Finally in third section, special consumption tax in Turkey compared special consumption tax in various countries. Key words: Turkish Tax System, Indirect Taxes, Consumption Taxes, Excise Taxes, Special Consumption Taxes.