New bill aims to boost funds for defense industry

ANKARA

Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has submitted a bill that aims to boost revenues for the country’s Defense Industry Support Fund.

The revenue-generating measures included in the bill are expected to raise around 80 billion Turkish Liras each year.

According to the bill, credit card holders with a limit of 100,000 liras or more will pay an annual fee of 750 TL per card.

In real estate transactions, buyers and sellers will each pay 750 liras, while a fee of 375 liras will be charged in land registry transactions.

People will pay 3,000 liras for a registry when buying a brand-new car. A fee of 1,500 liras will be charged for the sale and transfer of secondhand vehicles.

The bill will charge a special consumption tax on non-military drones and watches that cost more than 5,000 liras.

Motorcycles with less than 100 cc and 6KW engine capacity will also be charged a motor vehicle tax under the bill.

“We are geographically in the middle of all hot developments, it is very important for us to make our defense industry stronger than ever,” said Abdullah Güler, AKP parliamentary group chairman, who submitted the party’s bill to parliament.

They want to create additional resources for investments in the defense industry, he told reporters, noting that Türkiye is developing unmanned aerial vehicles, warships and other technologies with around 3,500 companies in the defense industry.

“Many of the projects developed also have export potential, contributing greatly to Türkiye's goal of becoming a global power,” Güler said.