Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek met with Yalçın Karatepe, CHP’s shadow Minister responsible for Treasury and Finance, at the ministry.
The meeting started at 10:00 and lasted approximately 4 hours and 15 minutes. Minister Şimşek sent Karatepe off at the door.
KARATEPE: WE SUBMITTED 4 MAIN REQUESTS
He went to Karatepe’s CHP Headquarters, faced the cameras and explained what they talked about during the meeting. Explaining that they conveyed 4 main demands to the Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek, Karatepe stated the following:
“An interim increase in the minimum wage, a significant increase in pensions, an increase in agricultural supports and payment of 1 percent to farmers, and the elimination of injustice in taxes, which we see as one of the important problems in the economy. However, unfortunately, after 4 hours, we saw that there was no will to change in their understanding, which gave the bitter prescription to the citizens again.”
“INCREASE IN MINIMUM WAGE IS A MUST”
Stating that they refused to increase the minimum wage in the second half of the year, when inflation was high, Karatepe said, “We expressed to the esteemed minister that this increase is a necessity.”
Stating that the increase in pensions is a necessity, Karatepe said, “Although they have to increase the amount of inflation as per the law, we said that this is not enough, an increase should be made above this, and an additional increase should be made as much as the growth figure.” he said.
Karatepe said that they stated that the situation is much more negative for retired civil servants and continued as follows:
“The increase in civil servant pensions; As you know, the expression “inflation difference plus what comes from the contract” is used. After the part coming from the contract in the first half of the year is deducted from the inflation data that will appear in the first 6 months, the contract difference in the second 6-month period will be added. If such a practice is implemented, the wage increase that retired civil servants will receive will remain at 20 percent. “I would like to express that this is insufficient.”
“FAIRNESS SHOULD BE PROVIDED IN TAXATION”
“We also shared our thoughts on agriculture. How much would it be if it were 1 percent of the national income? We looked at how much support there was; we saw that 89.6 billion dollars of support has not been provided to our farmers since 2006. This is a national problem not only for the agricultural sector.” We stated that it is.
We stated that ensuring justice in taxes, that citizens pay taxes in accordance with their economic power, that the taxes paid are not related to economic power, and that the tax burden is especially heavy on low-income citizens. We made suggestions on the subject.
Today, the policy rate is 50 percent, but the biggest increase was in overdrafts and credit cards used by low-income citizens. What is worse is that the interest payments are paid back with a tax burden of over 30 percent. “It is not right to leave this small burden on the shoulders of the citizens who have to use this loan, and we suggested that it be eliminated completely.”
THE DECISION WAS MADE AT THE PRIVATE MEETING WITH ERDOĞAN
Şimşek’s decision to meet with the CHP delegation was taken during the meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and CHP Chairman Özgür Özel at the CHP Headquarters.
The members of the CHP’s shadow cabinet had previously met with Minister of Internal Affairs Ali Yerlikaya, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler, and Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Mehmet Özhaseki.
