Varlık Vergisi

Varlık Vergisi ("Wealth tax" or "Capital tax") was a Turkish tax levied on the wealthy citizens of Turkey in 1942, with the stated aim of raising funds for the country's defense in case of an eventual entry into World War II.

The bill for the one-off tax was proposed by the Şükrü Saracoğlu government, and the act was adopted by the Turkish parliament on November 11, 1942. It was imposed on the fixed assets, such as landed estates, building owners, real estate brokers, businesses, and industrial enterprises of all citizens, including the minorities. However, those who suffered most severely were non-Muslims like the Jews, Greeks, Armenians, and Levantines, who controlled a large portion of the economy. Though it was the Armenians who were most heavily taxed.

During World War II, Turkey remained neutral until February 1945. Officially, the tax was devised to fill the state treasury that would have been needed had Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union invaded the country. However, it is argued, a main reason for the tax was to nationalize the Turkish economy by reducing minority populations' influence and control over the country's trade, finance, and industries.

The tax was paid by all citizens of Turkey, but higher tariffs were generally imposed on the country's non-Muslim inhabitants, often in an arbitrary and unrealistic way.

Around two thousand non-Muslims, who could not pay the enormous amount demanded for this sudden tax within the time-limit of thirty days, were arrested and sent to a forced labor camp in Aşkale in Erzurum Province of eastern Turkey. Twenty-one of these unfortunates died there.

The rigidly-enforced, discriminatory law did not yield the results the government had hoped for. Companies increased the prices of their products sharply to recoup their losses, creating a spiral of inflation that wrecked low-income consumers.

However, according to official information, the Turkish government collected 324 million liras, through the confiscation of non-Muslim assets. During a time in which one American dollar was equivalent to 1.20 Turkish lira.