The Minister of Treasury and Finance, Şimşek, announced the group that evades taxes the most.

The Minister of Treasury and Finance, Mehmet Şimşek, answered the questions of AK Party deputies regarding tax issues, primarily the fight against the informal economy. Şimşek explained the places with the highest tax evasion by saying, "They don't issue receipts at the beginning, middle, or end of the day. They sell bread from morning till evening."

REVEALED THE GROUP WITH THE MOST TAX EVASION

Minister Şimşek stated, "No one wants to pay taxes. If we are sincere about preventing informality, we need to shift the burden of proof from the state to the citizen, the taxpayer. We are willing to do whatever is necessary as long as we can deduct expenses from taxes, just like in Europe. But under this condition. The issue is a matter of culture and mentality. The lowest VAT is on bread. Have you ever seen a baker give you a receipt? They only bother with 1%. The places with the most tax evasion, where no taxes are collected, are bakers. They don't issue receipts at the beginning, middle, or end of the day. They sell bread from morning till evening but do not pay their taxes.

"THERE ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER FILED A TAX RETURN IN THEIR LIVES"

One of our citizens has purchased 32 apartments in one of the metropolitan cities, and we have no tax record for them. They have never filed a tax return in their life. There are thousands of citizens who buy luxury cars worth 65 million lira within a year. We call them and say, 'explain,' but they have no explanations. We say, 'Prove that you earned this money,' but they cannot prove it. As long as we do not conduct cross-checks, we cannot implement the model we want. We will develop the necessary strategy regarding credit card usage and tax deductions," he said.

"WE MUST RESPECT THE CITIZEN'S PREFERENCES"

In response to the question of why citizens are turning to foreign currency, Minister Şimşek said, "Because, except for 10-15 years of AK Party governments, inflation has been in double digits in this country for 50 years. When inflation is in double digits, citizens will either go to interest, gold, or foreign currency to protect themselves from inflation. The root cause of this is inflation. We cannot blame the citizens. We must respect the citizens' preferences."