According to data released by the Ministry of Finance yesterday, the government was able to extract TL 19.5 billion from the economy in the form of taxes and other transfers to the government, an increase of 23.3 percent over last year, while spending more than TL 22.6 billion -- a 20.5 percent increase compared to the same month last year. This raised the budget deficit by more than 5 percent over January 2009 to reach TL 3.1 billion.
The widespread tax hikes at the end of last year to cover the budget deficit of more than TL 50 billion in 2009 naturally spilled over to 2010, and this month’s figures reveal that the deficit is still alive and well. According to the data, tax revenue has gone up by a staggering 25.2 percent, increasing from TL 13.8 billion to TL 17.3 billion. According to the figures, the greatest increase in tax subgroups was in the value-added taxes collected when importing. This subgroup increased by 81.9 percent in January over the same month last year, from nearly TL 1.5 billion to TL 2.7 billion. The second biggest increase was in value-added taxes collected on domestic goods, increasing by 49.8 percent from TL 1.9 billion TL 2.9 billion.
According to the release, the revenue collected from the private consumption tax (ÖTV) increased by 28.7 percent in January compared to the same period last year, increasing from TL 3.2 billion to TL 4.1 billion. The ministry stated that the slight recovery in the last quarter of the year along with a moderately good performance in the first month of this year led to the increase in taxes collected, not mentioning the tax hikes at the end of last year.
The release also noted that spending by the government was not cut to try to achieve a surplus this month, as it increased by 20.5 percent to reach TL 22.6 billion. The government plans to spend TL 236.8 billion in 2010, an increase of 10.1 percent over the TL 215 billion spent in 2009.
