Abstract:

The securities in the equity market are of important investment instruments preferred by various real persons and institutions. Returns on securities traded at equity markets are subject to taxation in various ways especially via Income Tax and Corporate Tax. Tax arrangements have been made for various purposes regarding taxation of securities since 1980s. We examined the effect of tax arrangements regarding securities over the past decade on equity market through analyzing abnormal returns of 12 sector indices in Borsa Istanbul (BIST) for 6 tax arrangements made in Turkey and by the event study methodology. The event study is a method that allows examining the effects of non-quantitative events or changes on the financial markets. According to the findings, reactions of sectors differ against arrangements and there found to be significant abnormal returns pre and post arrangement dates. On the other hand, while Regulation No. 6486 is found to be the most effective regulation on all sectors, Regulation No. 6009 has the least effect. Findings also prove the argument that Borsa Istanbul does not show the semi-strong form of efficiency.

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