I even forgot the name of my savings account.
The representative allowance has ended.
74% of representative and promotion expenses, which were set to be reduced by 25% under the savings circular, were spent in the first half of the year.
The May notice stated that “representation and entertainment expenses will not be used unless necessary, except for international conferences and national holidays.” The draft budget made it clear that no savings were being applied to representation and promotional expenditures, which was announced with the following statement: “No meals or similar activities will be organized, no gifts will be given, and no payments will be made in the name of any other person for activities related to openings, meetings, seminars, anniversaries and similar celebrations or organizations, trips, cocktails, meals or similar activities will not be organized, no gifts will be given, and no payments will be made in the name of any other person for activities related to the events.”
In June, of the total expenditure of 70,936,000 TL, 51,400,000 TL was recorded as representation, promotion and entertainment expenses, and 19,500,000 TL was recorded as conference and organization expenses. Public relations and advertising expenses, which amounted to 521,274,000 TL in the first six months of last year, increased almost threefold to 1,375,000 TL.
Increase in benefits discovered
In June, TL 932 million was spent from secret expenditures that AKP President Tayyip Erdogan said he could spend but could not explain. Secret misappropriation expenditures, which stand out as a symbol of the AKP government’s lack of control and waste, increased to TL 5,966 million in the first half of this year. Secret misappropriation expenditures for the first half of 2023 were TL 1,951 million, an increase of 205%.
Plane rentals double
It became clear that rental transactions, one of the wasteful ways of spending the public, continue despite the savings notice. The largest aircraft rental this year took place in June. TL 573,697,000 was recorded as aircraft rental expenses. TL 1,581,000,000 was spent on aircraft rental in the January-June period. In the same period last year, TL 727,654,000 was transferred to aircraft leasing.
Rent payments in January-May increased 108% year-on-year to TL 9,068 million, of which TL 261 million was for car rentals.
1.5 billion TL to the Association
The amount of public resources transferred in the first half of the year to associations, trade unions, agencies, associations, funds and other organisations specified under the main heading of “non-profit organisations” in the budget amounted to TL 1.56 billion. In the January-June period, TL 178,457,000 was transferred to unspecified “non-profit” organisations defined as “other”.
Printing $3 billion in payments
A total of TL 5,318 million was spent on stationery, publishing, printing and binding expenses in the period from January to June. 62% of this expenditure was recorded as printing and binding expenses. Printing and binding expenses increased by 48% compared to the same period last year, reaching TL 3,503 million.
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VAT increased by 246 percent
Tax revenues increased 100.5% compared to the first half of last year, reaching 3,213,365 million liras. The tax revenue realization rate based on budget projections was 43.4%. By tax type, income tax increased 126.7%, corporate tax 60.2%, domestic value-added tax 246.6%, special consumption tax 87.3%, banking and insurance transaction tax 12%, import value-added tax 75.8%, stamp duty 85%, customs duty 62.9%, and other tax revenues 74.6% in the first half of last year compared to the same period last year.
