Tax amnesties 106 times more than Eid pension bonuses
While retirees’ holiday bonuses are calculated down to the last penny, Erdoğan will receive a salary increase. The taxes foregone amount to 106 times the holiday bonus.
In the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) Plan and Budget Commission, the law proposal, which includes the increase of the retired Eid bonus to 4 thousand liras and the regulations on maternity allowance, was approved. CHP's Plan and Budget Commission Spokesperson and Izmir MP Rahmi Aşkın Türeli stated that it was disappointing that the Eid bonus was set at 4 thousand TL (~110 USD) at the beginning of the negotiations on the 18-article proposal submitted to the Parliament by AKP.
CHP MPs left placards on their seats saying ‘It is not a bonus, it is a alms’ on the pensioner's Eid bonus. Veli Ağbaba from CHP said, ‘If the law proposers went to the street market, aunts would be chasing them away using slippers. A pensioner picks rotten fruit and vegetables from the trash in the middle of the night. A pensioner cannot break the fast in a hotel with this bonus. It is not possible for a family of 4 to have iftar in a hotel in Ankara' and emphasised that the amount of the bonus is very low.
3 TRILLION TL OF TAX WILL NOT BE COLLECTED
With the proposal, the bonus payments made to pensioners on both Eid holidays will be raised from 3,000 liras to 4,000 liras. According to the impact analysis, 15.5 million pensioners will be granted bonus payments based on files in 2025. Within this scope, a total of 28.4 billion liras will be paid to pensioners this year. Thus, the average pension bonus per person will be one thousand 858 liras. The pension bonus was increased by only one thousand liras on the excuse of ‘ budget capacity’.
It is expected that the taxes waived within the scope of tax deductions, exemptions and exceptions, which are expressed as tax expenditures, will be 3 trillion 5 billion liras in 2025. The amount of tax waived corresponds to approximately 106 times the budget cost projected for pension bonuses.
CHP Karabük Deputy Cevdet Akay said, ‘We could have paid 44,171 TL to each pensioner if we had saved 701 billion liras of corporation tax waived from being collected. 22,000 TL could have been paid during the Ramadan and Sacrifice Holidays, that is, on each holiday.’
202.2 BILLION TL TO PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
A total of 202.2 billion liras will be paid to the operating companies for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects in only 2025. 3 billion liras will be paid for the Eurasia Tunnel, 94.6 billion liras for highways and bridges, and 104.6 billion liras for city hospitals. The 28.4 billion liras of bonuses for pensioners corresponds to only 14 % of the 202.2 billion liras allocated for companies.
ERDOĞAN WILL GET AN INTERIM PAY RISE
With the proposed law, a regulation will be introduced regarding the determination of the president’s salary and pension. According to the presidential allowance specified in the 2025 Budget Law, Erdoğan’s gross salary stands at 238,000 lira. Following the regulation, he will receive his salary with an increase in April.
Note: This article is translated from the original Turkish version titled Vergi afları ikramiyenin tam 106 katı, published in BirGün newspaper on March 14, 2025.
