14.11.2026 14:00
Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek, in his response to the parliamentary question regarding pensions and civil servant salaries and the minimum wage, said, "Our goal is to ensure high, sustainable and inclusive growth and an increase in welfare." Şimşek also explained one by one the salary increases made in 2026 and the real increase rates realized since 2002.
Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek responded to the written parliamentary question submitted by İYİ Party Trabzon MP Yavuz Aydın regarding the purchasing power of pensions and civil servant salaries and the minimum wage. While Şimşek emphasized that the main goal of the economic program is sustainable growth and an increase in welfare, he announced the rates of increases made to salaries.
THE PURCHASING POWER OF SALARIES WAS RAISED IN PARLIAMENT
İYİ Party Trabzon MP Yavuz Aydın brought to the parliamentary agenda the real, inflation-adjusted change over the last three years in the minimum wage, the lowest and average civil servant salaries, and the lowest and average pensions.
Aydın also asked what concrete targets were set for 2026 and 2027 to permanently increase citizens' purchasing power within the scope of the anti-inflation program.
Responding to the motion, Minister Şimşek explained the goal of the economic program with the words "To ensure high, sustainable and inclusive growth and an increase in welfare."
HE ANNOUNCED THE INCREASE RATES FOR CIVIL SERVANTS, PENSIONERS AND MINIMUM WAGE EARNERS
Minister Şimşek provided the following information regarding the increases made to salaries in 2026:
"In 2026, an increase of 39.38 percent was provided in the lowest civil servant salary, 39.52 percent in the lowest pension, and 27.01 percent in the minimum wage, effective from the beginning of the year. From December 2002 to today, a real increase of 261 percent has been provided in the lowest civil servant salary including family allowance, a real increase of 621 percent in the lowest pension, and a real increase of 207 percent in the minimum wage."
Accordingly, the 2026 increase rates announced by Şimşek are as follows:
- Lowest civil servant salary 39.38%
- Lowest pension 39.52%
- Minimum wage 27.01%
HE DREW ATTENTION TO REAL INCREASES SINCE 2002
Şimşek evaluated not only the increases made to salaries in 2026 but also the real changes experienced since December 2002.
According to the information provided by the Minister, during the period in question, the lowest civil servant salary including family allowance increased by 261 percent in real terms, the lowest pension by 621 percent, and the minimum wage by 207 percent.
"THE MINIMUM WAGE WAS EXEMPTED FROM TAXATION"
Also touching upon practices regarding wage income in the tax system, Şimşek stated that employees' income is treated differently from other income elements.
Şimşek used the following statements in his explanation:
"On the other hand, as of January 1, 2022, the minimum wage was exempted from taxation, and for those earning wages above the minimum wage, the amount corresponding to the income tax base of the minimum wage was exempted from income tax, and the amount corresponding to the gross minimum wage was exempted from stamp tax."
Minister Şimşek also stated that current tax rates are applied to higher amounts of tax base for wage income compared with other income elements.