Turkish parliament ratifies new taxes

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish parliament on Thursday ratified a law that brings new regulations to the country's tax system.

According the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, 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% tax under the law, while a 0.6% 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%.

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

An accommodation tax will be applied 2% 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% from 15%.

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