Gas in Turkey is more expensive than in the US due to a weaker tax administration.

It was cold in New York last weekend. Extremely cold. The car thermometer said it was minus six centigrade degrees. But high level of humidity and wind made it feel colder, like in Izmir. Anyway, let me share my impressions of New York today.

What do you do in such cold weather? In the past, I used to visit bookstores. But the glory days of bookstores ended as electronic books have spread. Time is changing. The number of large bookstores is decreasing. Borders went bankrupt. Barnes & Noble is attempting to enter the electronic book market. E-books, rather than published books, are displayed in the windows of bookstores and large sections of bookstores are filled with e-book readers.

I use the Kindle by Amazon for electronic books, and not Barnes & Noble’s Nook. Because of this, large sections of their bookstores aren’t interesting to me. As bookstore chains go bankrupt, independent bookstores breathe a sigh of relief. However, we have to note that this has positive outcomes. You can still visit independent bookstores in New York City.

But to do so, you need to be active. The weather is very cold here, which makes it difficult get around on foot. This led to my discovery of New York’s hybrid taxis. The large American cars previously used have been replaced by smaller cars. However, they’re still yellow. The Ford Escape is a hybrid car: its engine is gasoline-electricity powered. The Indian-American driver was proudly talking about the features of his car. He says if he drives below fifty kilometers an hour, one tank of gas lasts one week. It seems as if a lot of Americans are going green as a result of the hike in gasoline prices. Figures suggest that everybody is trying to buy smaller cars.  The number of smaller cars has increased, but their share is not as high as in Europe yet.

But, is gasoline that expensive in the US? I checked the numbers and saw that it is expensive in relation to past prices. But the US does not consume the world’s most expensive gas. Guess who does? Turkey, of course. Gas consumed in Turkey is far more expensive than anywhere else, according to figures in www.hybridsuv.com. A gallon (four liters) of gas is 9.24 dollars in Turkey compared to 2.36 dollars in the US. This was what the cab driver was complaining about. The Netherlands ranked second on the list with 7.91 dollars per gallon of gas. Guess who consumes the cheapest gas? Venezuela. What surprised me the most when I was wandering around the hearth of Bolivarian socialism a few years ago was that huge American cars filled the roads. That was also the first time I saw motorcycle-cabs. I guess you understand what it means: you sit in the back seat of a motorcycle and ride in between the cars stuck in traffic. It’s just you and the driver. This is what happens when a gallon of gas is sold for 19 cents. Bolivarian socialism does not care about the environment, and it loves American cars.

But what about us? Do we care about the environment in Turkey? No, we don’t. That gas is expensive in Turkey has nothing to do with gas per se. It is so because our administrations tax collection method is incapable of solving its problems. There are a few other methods they use. Turkey is a country with a third-league tax administration whilst the Turkish economy is endeavoring to make it to the first league.

In my opinion, that gas prices are high is not the problem in Turkey. What is sad is that we’ve failed to channel the results of this towards a meaningful purpose. The American hike in gas prices lead to an increase in small and electronic cars. Investments in technology to develop greener cars are made to this end. This increases R&D operations. More production facilities are opened. However, in Turkey, this has led to more LPG cars. I guess that this is how R&D works in underdeveloped countries. The lack of a horizon here is distressing.

Gas in Turkey is not more expensive than in the US because it is wealthier, but because of a weak tax administration. Turkey is collecting taxes in the form of selling gas. Institutional infrastructure influences economic courses.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 17.01.2012