An analysis and assessment of the effectiveness of the Turkish tax trial in the sample of Eskişehir city

The state creates the revenue it needs to cover the expenses for the public goods and services mostly through the taxes. Protecting the individuals against the taxing administration is a requisite of the state of law. Therefore, taxing must be conducted in accordance with the legal framework. However, tax conflicts may arise between the taxpayer and the administration due to their differing views on the legal principles involved. Regarding such conflicts, taxpayers may either demand a compromise about the tax or fines during the administrative stage, or may directly sue against the administration during the judicial stage. Individuals expect the judicial body to solve their conflicts hastily in the most fair and equitable way possible, which calls for an effective fair trial system. A fair trial system is a system that does not drag out the trial process, which does not harm the involved parties' sense of justice, does not cause any time-related or financial losses, and eliminates the conflict with utmost fairness. In the first part, the subject, scope, and the functions of the tax trial are analyzed from the theoretical perspective. In the second part, after the discussion of strategic management and planning in justice, fair trial and its main components as the principal criteria for the assessment of tax trial effectiveness are analyzed. In the third part, the specific matters of dispute, the causes of the rises and decreases in the number of lawsuits, and the workloads in both Eskişehir tax court and in the Turkish tax courts in general are discussed, and the strength of demand for judicial services is determined in the light of the collected statistical and numerical data. Furthermore, by analyzing the various types of court decisions, the lengths of time before the conclusion of lawsuits, and the case closure rate in the courts, the effectiveness of tax trial is evaluated along the lines of the effectiveness criteria determined as the fairness of trial, trial in reasonable time, and the functioning of tax trial. Key words: Fair trial, reasonable time, trial effectiveness, fairness in the trial.