Turkey is seeking to harness artificial intelligence to crack down on tax evasion, joining the likes of Italy and the U.S. in enlisting advanced technology to reduce cases of avoidance and fraud.
"We will increasingly implement more algorithms and artificial intelligence" in auditing companies, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Monday in a TV interview with BloombergHT.
Cutting-edge technology could help authorities identify wrongdoing, with well over half of Turkish companies announcing outright losses or "symbolic" profits, Simsek said. Turkey is far behind 37 other member states of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in terms of the amount of taxes it collects as a percentage of its economic output, Simsek said.
The minister is making a public outreach to defend a new bill that would result in the introduction of additional taxes, which he says are critical to keep the nation's finances in good shape after last year's massive earthquakes.
