| The municipalities ran deficits over the last couple of years due in large part to the effects of the global economic crisis and increased spending during election campaigns. However, revenues surpassed expenditures in 2010 largely thanks to the overall reinvigoration of the economy and an increase in real estate tax revenues as a result of recent tax hikes. According to information from the Ministry of Finance, the municipalities spent TL 24.3 billion in May while their revenues reached TL 27.13 billion in the same month, resulting in a budget surplus of TL 2.84 billion for that month. However, in the January-May period as a whole, Turkish municipalities spent TL 119.62 billion -- TL 20.87 billion was interest payments and TL 98.74 billion was non-interest expenditures. The revenues in the same period reached TL 119.38 billion, leading to a budget deficit of TL 233 million, a decline by almost 100 percent compared to the budget deficit in the January-May period of 2010.
The local administrations collected TL 100 billion in tax revenue during the stated period. The amount of income taxes, corporate income taxes, value-added tax (KDV), private consumption taxes (ÖTV), stamp duty and legal fees paid to public institutions increased by 20.8 percent, 18.3 percent, 14.9 percent, 14.2 percent, 22.8 percent and 23.7 percent, respectively.
Turkey’s local administrations managed to yield a combined budget surplus of TL 1.35 billion in 2010 following deficits in preceding years -- TL 5.75 billion in 2009 and TL 7.1 billion in 2008. |
