Turkey is gearing up to implement fresh taxes, including a 0.03% transaction tax on cryptocurrency trading, as part of a significant fiscal revamp. The goal is to tackle the country’s budget shortfall resulting from the 2023 earthquakes and to propose a new approach to financial transaction regulation.
According to a report from Bloomberg, these proposed changes could bring in a substantial amount of revenue during challenging economic times. The Turkish government’s tax reform plan is predicted to generate 226 billion liras ($7 billion), which is about 0.7% of the country’s gross domestic product. The Ministry of Treasury and Finance, under the leadership of Mehmet Simsek, has drawn up legislation for parliamentary review by the end of June.
The introduction of the 0.03% transaction tax is aimed at capitalizing on the increasing interest in crypto trading among Turkish investors looking to protect themselves against inflation and currency devaluation. These reforms would represent the most significant tax overhaul in Turkey in the last twenty years.
Despite previous denials of plans to tax cryptocurrency and stock gains, the Turkish government is now contemplating targeted transaction taxes to ensure comprehensive financial regulation. On June 5, Simsek announced that Turkey’s objective was to ensure that no area goes untaxed in order to achieve fairness and efficiency in taxation.
Although President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, which has a parliamentary majority, is expected to pass the proposed legislation and implement the new 0.03% transaction tax, previous attempts to impose transaction taxes have been met with significant opposition, and political discord is expected in this latest endeavor.