Abstract:

Tax reform is political at its core; therefore its successful implementation depends on reaching a mutual understanding with, and the support of, the general public. The General Basis of Corporate Income Tax Act, which was one of the most important steps taken by the Justice and Development Party Government for tax reform in 2006, emphasized that "the draft was prepared with the understanding and wide participation of the society” and this shows that an effort to achieve public consensus had been made. This signals a new direct democratic approach which envisages direct democratic participation of taxpayers in the law-making procedure, which is different from the requirement of the classical approach to have only the trio of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, the Council of Ministers and the government administration in the process of making tax law and policy. Participatory democracy is a term that conveys this direct democracy approach to the taxation process. This article aims to show how and how much individuals participate in the process of tax law- and policy-making through several associations and institutions while representative democracy holds control of taxation, by examining the process of the New Corporate Income Tax Act, which is claimed to have been enacted through public consensus

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