The evalution of value added tax in terms of justice of taxation in Turkey

In the financing of the responsibilities they are assigned to do by the laws, states mainly rely on tax revenues. The Turkish taxation system is mainly composed of the consumption and income taxes. The Value Added Tax is the most modern consumption tax applied in our country. The Value Added Tax Act number 3065 was published in the Official Gazette on 02.11.1984 and came into effect beginning from 01.01.1985. It has been 28 years since the Value Added Tax, which is accepted to be the common transaction tax by the EU member states, came into effect. And during this period some legal amendments have been made in this tax. These changes are mainly regarding the rates of the VAT in order to provide the justice of taxation. When we look at the distribution of the tax revenues in Turkey, we can see that the rate of indirect taxes in the tax revenues has had a steady increase comparing to the direct taxes. The indirect taxes applied in the Turkish taxation system, which had previously been under a number of headings, were collected under two headings, namely the Value Added Tax and the Private Consumption Tax. Though the increases in the indirect tax revenues function as the brake mechanisms of the economy in reality, the fact that they show parallelism with the economic indicators (GNP, GDP, etc.) hides this aspect of theirs and gives the false impression that they are providing contribution to the economy. If the indirect taxes are abolished or their rates are decreased, then the revenues from direct taxation to be applied on the incomes increasing depending on the increasing consumption will increase. In order to be able to eliminate the injustice of taxation in the country, it is necessary to give weight to direct taxation. The decrease in the tax revenues resulting from the required changes in the indirect taxes and their rates can be compensated by applying direct taxes. In the present study, after the theoretical framework of the justice of taxation is investigated, the theoretical content, history and calculation of the Value Added Tax, as well as its place in the taxation system, its effects and its comparison with other sales taxes will be discussed. After the application and properties of the VAT in Turkey is discussed, the VAT system existing in the EU member states will be explained. Key Words: Justice, Justice of Taxation, Value Added, Value Added Tax, Value Added Tax Application