Members of the Beyoğlu Entertainment Venues Association protested Thursday the recent 30 percent tax hike on alcoholic beverages, claiming the government is using the national budget deficit and personal health as excuses to clampdown on alcohol.
Gathering in front of the Galatasaray High School in Istanbul’s Taksim district with posters saying, “The budget deficit cannot be covered with alcohol” and “We are selling the most expensive alcohol in Europe,” the association members said they were taking legal action over the special consumption tax hike that was implemented Oct. 25.
“If the government’s reason for this practice is the budget deficit, I wonder whether alcohol is a more special consumption material than automobiles, jewelry or antiques?” asked Tarkan Konar, the head of the association.
Emphasizing that cafe and restaurant owners are not responsible for the budget deficit, Konar told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review that loading more taxes on their businesses compared to other sectors is against the Constitution.
Noting that public health is another excuse used by the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government, just as it was for the smoking ban, Konar said only authoritarian regimes think about the public’s health more than the public itself.
“The people coming to such venues are over 18 and they can take responsibility for themselves. The government should not think about our health more than us,” said Konar, whose cafe serves alcoholic beverages in Beyoğlu, where there are approximately 2,000 such venues.
According to Konar, while some companies producing alcoholic beverages have reflected the tax rise in their prices, others cut from their profits so as not to affect their sales. “Thus, the prices you currently see on the shelves do not reflect the tax hike directly,” said Konar.
Association members said even though they are uncomfortable with the tax hike, restaurant and cafe owners have to include the increase on their menus, but this will cause a decrease in their customer numbers. “Entertainment is not a luxury, it is a right according to the universal declaration of human rights. However, if I charge 10 Turkish Liras for a glass of beer, my customers will prefer to drink in their homes,” Konar said.
Stressing that an entertainment mentality addressing only the upper-middle class would create decadence, separation and hate in society, Konar said a measurement showing the country’s level of welfare is the amount and quality of the time they spend outside their homes.
Watching the protest, 21-year-old Ali Kerem Çeliker said he couldn’t understand why Turkey’s budget deficit could not be surmounted, given the amount of taxes taken from the public. “The tax hike on alcoholic beverages was applied because the government wants to make people stay away from alcohol and smoking by using public pressure,” Çeliker said.
Saying that the choice to drink or not drink should be left to individuals, Çeliker said in this circumstance people are confronted by obstacles put up by the government.