The role of tax cuts on agricultural input prices in Turkey
Agricultural input costs have a major impact on food prices in Turkey. In this context, a decrease in agricultural input costs can play a significant role in reducing food inflation. On January 1, 2016, the 18% Value Added Tax (VAT) rate in fertiliser was reduced to 1 percent with the Council of Ministers’ decision numbered 2015/8353. Then, on February 10, 2016, fertiliser was included in the scope of the exception. As these tax reduction decisions exogenously affect fertiliser prices, there is an opportunity to conduct a natural experiment. Using the difference-in-differences (DID) method, this paper examines whether the decisions reduce fertiliser prices. The analysis results provide some hints that consumers received benefits from the tax reduction decisions.
