Wealth transfer: Their wealth grows with what they take from workers

News Centre

The recent 24% pay rise for public sector workers has been widely discussed. The stance taken by trade unions during this period has also been heavily criticised. A study conducted by the Research Centre of the Progressive Workers' Trade Unions Confederation (DİSK-AR) revealed the losses suffered by workers in the first seven months of the year.

The AKP regime's policy of ‘take from the poor, give to the rich’ transferred approximately 1 trillion Turkish lira from the pockets of the poor to capital in seven months. According to the Wage Loss Monitoring Report published by DİSK-AR, a total of 972 billion TL was eroded from workers' wages in seven months due to inflation and taxes. The study noted that the increasing inflation and tax burden created a transfer of income.

The research results revealed the losses item by item as follows:

• According to our research covering only workers covered by social security (approximately 17 million), real disposable wages are facing a major erosion due to inflation on the one hand and the increasing tax burden on the other.

• One of the main causes of the erosion in wages is the rapidly increasing tax burden. For example, a worker with a gross wage of 47,750 TL (the average wage for insured workers) paid less than 3,000 TL in taxes in January 2025, but this amount approached 5,000 TL by July. The total amount of taxes and deductions in January 2025 was 10,100 TL, while the total deductions in July 2025 rose to 12,129 TL.

• The loss in average worker wages due to inflation in January 2025 was 1,894 TL, while this amount rose to 6,796 TL in the July 2025 period. The erosion in January due to taxes and inflation was 4,831 TL, while this amount rose to 11,793 TL in July. The cumulative erosion of the average worker's wage over seven months reached 58,450 TL.

• Total losses are even more alarming. The monthly inflation loss for insured workers alone reached 114.3 billion TL in July 2025 (for all workers), while the total erosion caused by inflation and taxes (excluding deductions) amounted to 198 billion TL.

• The cumulative erosion over seven months has reached an astonishing level. In particular, the failure to grant an interim wage increase for the minimum wage in July 2025 exacerbated the losses. Due to the increasing tax burden, the total cumulative loss for all workers over 7 months amounted to 446 billion TL, while the loss caused by inflation reached 526 billion TL. Thus, the loss caused by taxes and inflation in the wages of approximately 17 million workers over 7 months reached at least 972 billion TL.

• This erosion, approaching 1 trillion TL, represents a significant transfer of income from workers to the wealthy. Due to inequality in inflation and income tax, the working class has lost approximately 1 trillion TL in wages. Inflation is a drain that impoverishes the working class. It is taking from workers and transferring resources to the wealthy. Meanwhile, the unfair tax system is deepening income inequality and increasing the burden on wage incomes. In the end, workers' net disposable income is rapidly eroding.

Prof. Dr. Aziz Çelik, a BirGün writer and one of the academics who prepared the report, said, ‘The report reveals how inflation and the unfair tax system have eroded workers' wages. In particular, the failure to increase the minimum wage has led to a decline in the overall wage level.’ Çelik added, "On the other hand, inflation is destroying purchasing power. The government is causing workers to become impoverished by insisting on an unfair tax system on the one hand and refusing to grant an interim increase to the minimum wage on the other.‘ Çelik continued his remarks as follows: ’The losses outlined in the report also represent a significant transfer of income. Inflation and the tax system amount to a transfer of income. They are tools for diverting resources from labour to capital."

THE OFFICIAL FACE OF INJUSTICE

According to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), income inequality has reached its peak.

The top 20% income group accounts for 48.1% of total income, while the lowest income group accounts for only 6.3%. Annual average income from employment was calculated as 804,000 TL for employers, 210,000 TL for self-employed individuals, 209,000 TL for salaried employees, and 105,000 TL for daily wage earners.

Note: This article is translated from the original article titled İşçiden aldıklarıyla servetleri büyüyor, published in BirGün newspaper on August 7, 2025.