Cumhuriyet Newspaper / No justice in this business

No justice in this business

Upon the increase by about 7 percent last week, the price of raki of 70 cl is increased to 359 liras. Levent Komur, the General Manager of Mey|Diageo, indicated that there should not be a higher tax rate than the price of the product itself, and he said that "The industry cannot develop without a fair tax system. Grape producers are not happy; aniseed producers are not happy; Tekel stores are not happy; consumers are not happy, and producers are not happy. However, the farmers who are in the importing countries are happy".

Yenilikhane, the innovation center, which Mey|Diageo put into operation with an investment of 18 million TL within the production plants situated in Alasehir, Manisa in the previous year, enabled production of Turkey's first craft products in the raki category. Speaking at the meeting held in Yenilikhane, Levent Komur provided the following information:

A fair tax system is inevitable. Let taxes increase according to the targeted inflation rate, not the actual inflation rate. Let Special Consumption Tax (SCT) increase once a year.

The biggest problem for the sector is the increase in imports within the last 5 years. The highest tax applies to raki. Whiskey is exported and 12 percent less tax is applied. We are losing our power in exports due to the exchange rate.

The price of Yeni Raki of 70 cl has increased by 135% in the last 32 months. The price of gasoline has increased by 179 percent and toothpaste by 179 percent. Raki was the product, the price of which increased relatively less. The price of one bottle increased by 194 percent in one year. The price of aniseed, which was 20 TL/kg last year, increased to 80 TL/kg.

'If the SCT is not increased for 3-4 years, its price will decrease'

The price of the raki of 70 cl, which is 359 TL, consists of the 189.78 TL of SCT and 54.76 TL of VAT. The price of the product, including the profit of the dealer, is 114.46 TL. If we reflect the normal cost increases, the price of the raki of 70 cl would have been 450 liras.

2 percent of the taxes collected in Turkey is from alcohol. For example, they can make this rate 0.75 percent. If the special consumption tax is not increased for 3-5 years, then the prices of spirits will decrease.

For example, the special consumption tax has not been increased as much as the inflation rate in the last two years. This is a good development but there were high increases in the previous years. The less the SCT is increased, the lower the production of illegal spirits is.

We work in cooperation with a total of 18 thousand farmers. We will purchase 140,000 tons of grapes this year. We were sending the grapes, which we purchased from Manisa region, to our plants situated in Tarsus and Nevsehir. However, this year, we purchased grapes from Tarsus region by paying an extra 40 million TL in order to protect our farmer in the said region.