The Turkish government announced its Medium Term Economic Programme on Thursday.  You can find brief details in this Todays Zaman report.

Within the announcement were details of increased taxes on consumption.

These Special Consumption Taxes (SCT's), [in Turkish ÖDV], include alcohol, tobacco products, cars and mobile phones.

As well as raising an estimated additional 5.5 billion TL in receipts for the government, by the end of 2012, the aim is also to curb demand for imported goods, thereby improving Turkey's balance of payments deficit.

Alcohol & tobacco
The tax on beer has increased by 20% from 44 kuruş, to 53 kuruş per litre.  Other alcoholic drinks have increased by between 20% and 25%.

The tax on cigarettes rose from 63% to 69%.

Mobile phones
The tax on mobile phones has increased from 20% to 25%, with the minimum amount of tax per phone increasing from 40TL to 100TL.

Motor vehicles
Cars with an engine size of between 1600cc and 2000cc will see SCT increase from 60% to 80%, whilst vehicles above 2000cc will see the rate of tax increase from 84% to 130%.

Some luxury car brands may find they are left with stock that is much harder to move.  In case you were wondering, a Bentley Mulsanne will now cost you 1.7 million TL.  However they do now throw in a free air freshener.

This move will not impact on the mass market of home produced cars.

To read more, take a look at the following news links:

Hurriyet Daily News report                         Sabah News Online  

Kalkan Turkish Local News - your window on Kalkan Turkey