Financial obligations related to parcel of land in turkish tax system

The indicators of financial solvency are income, expenditure and wealth. Wealth, as one of the indicators of solvency, has long been viewed as a subject of taxation, and the revenue acquired from this source has constituted a significant source of financing for the public expenditures. Compared to the past, wealth taxation has lost its importance today, but it still maintains its place in the taxation system. Buildings, lands and parcels are the subject of property tax, which is a type of wealth tax. Besides, under the Turkish Tax System, lands and parcels can also be the subject of some tax and duties in addtion to the property tax. As a consequence of urbanization, landowners whose lands have become parcels (building lands) have been making profits (rent) which are of unearned nature to a remarkable extent. The main source of this income (rent) is a number of state-implemented public services and zoning regulations. In recent years, especially in metropolitan cities, land speculation has become widespread, and builders and land speculators have earned considerable unearnded incomes. These unearned incomes, secured through land speculation, have had clear detrimental effects on the income distribution and social justice. Thus, it has become a necessity to get the share of the public from this unearned income earned from the real estates. This study focuses on lands and parcels as one of the elements of wealth. In the first part, wealth, wealth tax, land, parcel, rent concepts are discussed theoretically. In the second part, the financial obligations related to land and parcels that are defined by the existing laws are analyzed. In the final part, a general assessment is made on the taxation of urban rent profits through the current legislation in place. Key words: Wealth taxes, financial obligations related to parcel of land, urban rents