The organizational change in finance bureaucracy: the establishment of tax audit board

Abstract

The establishment of Tax Inspection Administration (TIB) on 10 July 2011 signifies a revolutionary organizational change in fiscal bureaucracy in Turkey. This paper argues that organizational stability at the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has been punctuated by the determined government's powerful intervention in organizational change. This revolutionary organizational change came swiftly, and subsequently affected the MoF bureaucracy as a whole. The research is a qualitative analysis of the TAB's establishment. A combination of interviews and written sources was the main approach to data collection. The paper found that under the title of 'tax auditor', a new sub-identity has been introduced that aims to eliminate various bureaucratic sub-identities generating conflict among tax inspectors board, inspection board of finance, budget and fiscal controllers and tax auditors. This change is likely to enhance state's infrastructural capacity to levy and collect taxes via a progress towards an efficient and effective tax-collection machinery. It would facilitate further organizational reforms that faced the strong resistance of tax inspectors board and inspection board members. This paper also points to several policy challenges ahead on this course.