Tax Policies for Agriculture in Ensuring Food Security: A Comparison of Selected Country Practices

Abstract

The need for nutrition, which is one of the most basic needs of people, is nowadays mostly provided by the products produced by individuals or enterprises operating in the agricultural sector. Food security, which includes the availability of food that can meet the nutritional needs of people, access to food, stability in access to food and the ability to benefit from food, is one of the issues that countries and international organisations are emphasising today due to the importance of the need for nutrition. Food security is adversely affected by the supply side of agricultural production due to global climate change, epidemics, war, political instability and rising costs due to the global inflation phenomenon. These factors increase the importance of national fiscal policies to support and incentivize agriculture. In this context, the main objective of this study is to analyse the tax incentives for the agricultural sector, which has an extremely important place in ensuring food security. This study reveals the diversity of agricultural tax incentives in 5 European Union countries and Turkey, as well as the differences between the countries. By making evaluations on the tax policy preferences of countries, recommendations are presented for the steps to be taken to ensure food security.

Keywords

• Agriculture
• food safety
• tax policy
• tax incentives

Gıda Güvencesinin Sağlanmasında Tarıma Yönelik Vergi Politikaları: Seçilmiş Ülke Uygulamalarının Karşılaştırılması

Abstract

İnsanların en temel ihtiyaçlarından biri olan beslenme, günümüzde çoğunlukla tarım sektöründe faaliyette bulunan kişi ya da işletmelerce üretilen ürünler aracılığı ile temin edilmektedir. İnsanların beslenme ihtiyaçlarını karşılayabilecek gıdanın varlığı, gıdaya erişim ve erişimde istikrar ve gıdadan faydalanabilmeyi kapsayan gıda güvencesi, beslenme ihtiyacının önemine binaen günümüzde ülkelerin ve uluslararası kuruluşların üzerinde önemle durduğu konulardan biridir. Özellikle son dönemde yaşanan küresel iklim değişikliği, salgın hastalıklar, savaş, siyasi istikrarsızlıklar nedeniyle tarımsal üretimin arz yönünde yaşanan sıkıntılar ve küresel ölçekteki enflasyon olgusu nedeniyle artan maliyetler gıda güvencesini olumsuz yönde etkilemektedir. Bu gelişmeler tarımın desteklenmesi ve teşvikine yönelik ulusal mali politikaların önemini daha da arttırmaktadır. Bu kapsamda bu çalışmanın temel amacı gıda güvencesinin sağlanmasında son derece önemli bir yere sahip olan tarım sektörüne yönelik vergi teşviklerinin incelenmesidir. Bu çalışma 5 Avrupa Birliği ülkesi ve Türkiye’de tarıma yönelik vergi teşviklerinin çeşitliliğini ve ülkeler arasındaki farklılıkları ortaya koymaktadır. Ülkelerin vergi politika tercihleri hakkında değerlendirmeler yapılarak, gıda güvencesinin sağlanması konusunda atılması gereken adımlara yönelik öneriler sunulmaktadır.

Keywords

• Tarım
• gıda güvenliği
• vergi politikası
• vergi teşviği

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