Armenian government introducing a new toolkit in 2020 - Nikol Pashinyan
15.11.2019,
10:57
YEREVAN, November 15. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended Thursday the year-end meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Armenia (ACCA), attended by U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracey, the ACCA Board of Directors with more than 100 members, as well as representatives from the Armenian government and international donor organizations.
Addressing the audience, the premier noted that from the very first days of last year’s political revolution in Armenia, his government set an agenda of economic revolution. He singled out three main components of economic revolution.
In this regard, Nikol Pashinyan said the government is introducing a new toolkit in 2020, including the proposed amendments to the Tax Code, which in their most visible sections reflect the government’s perception of the future day of the Armenian economy and development vectors.
The first he said, is the introduction of a flat income tax, which has seen some criticism of ideological nature.
"I want to say that the proposed legislative amendment reflects our understanding of economic trends, and we want to stimulate those areas that may be described as high-wage industries. We know that the income tax will be substantially lowered for high salaries. Starting this January 1, a 23 percent flat income tax will be applied and the process will be continued. In the coming years we will have a 20 percent flat income tax," the prime minister said.
Pashinyan said that a certain reduction is also expected in the profit tax. And what matters most here is that we are exempting micro-businesses from taxes.
"This shows two main vectors of our efforts: First, we stimulate technological investments in the Republic of Armenia and increase the country’s attractiveness in this respect. In parallel, there is the well-known law on startups, the conditions of which we have improved. On the other hand, as a tool for overcoming poverty, micro-businesses are generally exempt of taxes because our perception remains that there is no other way out of poverty than work. Therefore, if we want to help our citizens overcome poverty, we must create new jobs,” Nikol Pashinyan said. “By the way, we are talking about overdue debt, but in the meantime, we have already doubled the rate of VAT return for the first 10 months of 2019 as compared to 2017. That is, against 54 billion drams settled as VAT returns in 2017, around 114 billion drams were returned in the first 10 months of this year."
Pashinyans said these are the sums that were removed from circulation unfairly or due to legal inconsistencies. And now that money is being sent back to the economy.
"Of course, we have no repressive or administrative leverages to compel entities to invest in the Republic of Armenia. But we have made an appeal to those companies that have received VAT refunds, calling on them to reinvest that money in the Republic of Armenia. Indeed, some of them will respond to this call, and we will welcome such companies as our partners,” the prime minister said. ($1 – AMD 477.51). --0---
YEREVAN, November 15. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended Thursday the year-end meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Armenia (ACCA), attended by U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracey, the ACCA Board of Directors with more than 100 members, as well as representatives from the Armenian government and international donor organizations.
Addressing the audience, the premier noted that from the very first days of last year’s political revolution in Armenia, his government set an agenda of economic revolution. He singled out three main components of economic revolution.
In this regard, Nikol Pashinyan said the government is introducing a new toolkit in 2020, including the proposed amendments to the Tax Code, which in their most visible sections reflect the government’s perception of the future day of the Armenian economy and development vectors.
The first he said, is the introduction of a flat income tax, which has seen some criticism of ideological nature.
"I want to say that the proposed legislative amendment reflects our understanding of economic trends, and we want to stimulate those areas that may be described as high-wage industries. We know that the income tax will be substantially lowered for high salaries. Starting this January 1, a 23 percent flat income tax will be applied and the process will be continued. In the coming years we will have a 20 percent flat income tax," the prime minister said.
Pashinyan said that a certain reduction is also expected in the profit tax. And what matters most here is that we are exempting micro-businesses from taxes.
"This shows two main vectors of our efforts: First, we stimulate technological investments in the Republic of Armenia and increase the country’s attractiveness in this respect. In parallel, there is the well-known law on startups, the conditions of which we have improved. On the other hand, as a tool for overcoming poverty, micro-businesses are generally exempt of taxes because our perception remains that there is no other way out of poverty than work. Therefore, if we want to help our citizens overcome poverty, we must create new jobs,” Nikol Pashinyan said. “By the way, we are talking about overdue debt, but in the meantime, we have already doubled the rate of VAT return for the first 10 months of 2019 as compared to 2017. That is, against 54 billion drams settled as VAT returns in 2017, around 114 billion drams were returned in the first 10 months of this year."
Pashinyans said these are the sums that were removed from circulation unfairly or due to legal inconsistencies. And now that money is being sent back to the economy.
"Of course, we have no repressive or administrative leverages to compel entities to invest in the Republic of Armenia. But we have made an appeal to those companies that have received VAT refunds, calling on them to reinvest that money in the Republic of Armenia. Indeed, some of them will respond to this call, and we will welcome such companies as our partners,” the prime minister said. ($1 – AMD 477.51). --0---
