Ex-governor lashes out at tax practices
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Milliyet
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 01, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Criticizing the government tax practices was only a part of former Central Bank Governor Süreyya Serdengeçti’s agenda. Tax inspections have been politicized, according to Serdengeçti, who also blasts the government for being late in implementing necessary precautions
Tax inspection in Turkey is politicized, a former head of Turkey’s Central Bank said Wednesday.
Tax authorities are imposing unfair fines on some companies, said Süreyya Serdengeçti. The government should try to solve problems "through compromises, not threats," he said. Serdengeçti also criticized the government for being late to take measures against the global financial crisis and said spending during the local elections in March made it difficult to control inflation.
There is an urgent need for a new economic program, said Serdengeçti speaking at a crisis-themed conference organized at Afyon Kocatepe University’s Ahmet Necdet Sezer campus.
Need of a new program
"The main focus of the 2001 program was to lower inflation, minimize public debts and provide sustainable financing. We have reached our goals. Now what we need is a structureĞfocused program that aims for sustainable growth," said Serdengeçti. "We have not done anything in the past eight years. It is not healthy to stick to one program for eight years. Now programs should be created. TOBB and TÜSİAD have been calling for the government to take action for years, but nothing has been done. Just two action plans were released. But the public is unaware of it. Some serious mistakes were made."
The populist politics played out during the times of elections made it harder to fight against inflation and disturbed the outlook. "The government may think that they have won the general elections by distributing coal and food to the needy. However, I believe it was the success obtained in lowering inflation within the last five years and growth figures."
Turkey began to enter a crisis around July 22, 2007, way before the country was struck by the global crisis, said Serdengeçti. "The government followed the wrong lead, wrong economic data. That is why Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan kept reiterating that the global crisis will by-pass Turkey."
"In crisis, U.S. dollar jumped. Then it stopped around 1.70 Turkish Liras. Stabilized. The interest rates were cut. The current account deficit was also narrowing. So the government thought the crisis would barely touch Turkey," he said. "First of all, instead of being glad that the current account gap is narrowing, we should all be terrified due to the reason behind that reduction. Treasury interest rates drop because they are seen as safe harbors. The Treasury is not the problem though. The trouble is somewhere else. This could only be proven by slowdown in growth and rising unemployment figures. And that is exactly what happened."
Tax authorities are imposing unfair fines on some companies, said Süreyya Serdengeçti. The government should try to solve problems "through compromises, not threats," he said. Serdengeçti also criticized the government for being late to take measures against the global financial crisis and said spending during the local elections in March made it difficult to control inflation.
There is an urgent need for a new economic program, said Serdengeçti speaking at a crisis-themed conference organized at Afyon Kocatepe University’s Ahmet Necdet Sezer campus.
Need of a new program
"The main focus of the 2001 program was to lower inflation, minimize public debts and provide sustainable financing. We have reached our goals. Now what we need is a structureĞfocused program that aims for sustainable growth," said Serdengeçti. "We have not done anything in the past eight years. It is not healthy to stick to one program for eight years. Now programs should be created. TOBB and TÜSİAD have been calling for the government to take action for years, but nothing has been done. Just two action plans were released. But the public is unaware of it. Some serious mistakes were made."
The populist politics played out during the times of elections made it harder to fight against inflation and disturbed the outlook. "The government may think that they have won the general elections by distributing coal and food to the needy. However, I believe it was the success obtained in lowering inflation within the last five years and growth figures."
Turkey began to enter a crisis around July 22, 2007, way before the country was struck by the global crisis, said Serdengeçti. "The government followed the wrong lead, wrong economic data. That is why Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan kept reiterating that the global crisis will by-pass Turkey."
"In crisis, U.S. dollar jumped. Then it stopped around 1.70 Turkish Liras. Stabilized. The interest rates were cut. The current account deficit was also narrowing. So the government thought the crisis would barely touch Turkey," he said. "First of all, instead of being glad that the current account gap is narrowing, we should all be terrified due to the reason behind that reduction. Treasury interest rates drop because they are seen as safe harbors. The Treasury is not the problem though. The trouble is somewhere else. This could only be proven by slowdown in growth and rising unemployment figures. And that is exactly what happened."