Turkish parliament ratifies new taxes

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

The Turkish parliament on Nov. 21 ratified a law that brings new regulations to the country's tax system.

According the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the law aims to collect "more tax from those earning more and less from those earning less".

The law proposes new taxes -- namely a valuable house tax and accommodation tax.

Owners of homes worth between 5-7.5 million Turkish liras ($862,000-$1.300 million) will pay 0.3 percent tax under the law, while a 0.6 percent tax will be applied on houses worth between 7.5 million and 10 million Turkish liras ($1.724 million) and houses worth over 10 million Turkish liras will be taxed by 1 percent.

The law also raises the maximum income tax rate to 40 percent from the previous 35 percent.

An accommodation tax will be applied 2 percent on the revenue and will be paid by in-house guests.

The law also lifts the tax exception on sports referees.

Also, the stoppage collected from athletes' revenues will be raised to 20 percent from 15 percent.

The law will be first debated in the parliament's planning and budget committee.