The Turkish Government announced increases in the special consumption tax, or luxury products tax, yesterday with a range of inflation busting increases.

The tax on buying a car with an engine capacity of 2,000cc and above has gone up by 25 per cent bringing to total tax to 130 per cent of the vehicles value.

Vehicles with an engine capacity of 1,600cc to 1,999cc are up by 12.5 per cent raising the total tax from 60 per cent to 80 per cent.

The tax on tobacco is up 6 percent although smokers can expect prices to rise by more on their packet of twenty as manufacturers use the tax rises as an excuse to hide their own price rises. The element of tax on tobacco is now 69 per cent.

Booze is also up by varying percentages depending on the type of drink.

The tax on wine is up 20%, Raki, gin and vodka are also up.

Beer drinkers will be relived that the tax on alcoholic drinks made from malt, yes that’s beer, have remained unchanged.

The tax on the price of new mobile phone handsets has been changed from a flat 40 TL to a rate of between 20 and 25 percent of the purchase price.

The finance ministry has said that the tax rises will bring in a further 5.5 BILLION TL revenue per year.

The tax rises coincided with an announcement by the government that debts and deficits will reduce in the medium term.