Turkey's alcoholic beverage tax revenues surge by 54% in July

Excise tax revenues (OTV) in Turkey collected from alcoholic beverages in July have surged by an astonishing 54%, reaching a historic high of 7.3 billion Turkish Liras (TL), compared to the same month last year, according to data released by the Turkish Finance Ministry.

Excise tax revenues garnered from alcoholic beverages during the January to July period of last year amounted to 19.9 billion TL. However, this year has witnessed a remarkable 63% increase, with collections soaring to 32.4 billion TL in the same period.

Dr. Ozan Bingol, a tax expert, calculated that for a 700ml bottle of 45% alcohol content raki, a popular Turkish alcoholic drink, the base price without taxes stands at 149.37 TL. However, when the 266.47 TL excise tax and 83.16 TL value-added tax (VAT) are added, the total tax burden on the bottle amounts to 349.63 TL, making the final shelf price 499 TL.

Furthermore, excise tax revenues from tobacco products also exhibited a substantial rise. In comparison to last year's July collection of 11.7 billion TL, this year's figure surged by 45% to reach 17 billion TL during the same period.

In terms of cumulative figures, excise tax revenues from tobacco products during the January to July period reached an impressive 85.3 billion TL, which signifies a significant increase from the 53 billion TL collected during the same period last year.

Consequently, the aggregate excise tax revenue collected solely from alcohol and tobacco products reached an impressive 117.7 billion TL in the first seven months of this year.

It's noteworthy that during the January to July period, excise taxes from alcohol and tobacco products accounted for 5.7% of the total tax revenue, which amounted to a staggering 2.053 trillion TL.