Ruling party ready to make concessions on tax changes in Armenia

YEREVAN, November 27. /ARKA/. Armenian parliamentary committee on economic issues again discussed today a set of government-designed amendments to the Tax Code, which envisage changing the preferential tax regime enjoyed by a string of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The government bill suggests excluding advocacy, accounting, consulting, advertising, construction, architectural design and real estate trade from the types of economic activities covered by this tax break.

The government claims that the companies and individual entrepreneurs engaged in these sectors have an unfair advantage over other types of business.

MP from the opposition Hayastan (Armenia) faction Tadevos Avetisyan noted today that the proposals made during the previous parliamentary discussions on the amendments were not reflected in the submitted draft law and expressed dissatisfaction that the authorities are ignoring constructive criticism.
In response, the deputy chairman of the committee, Babken Tunyan from the ruling Civil Contract faction, noted that between the first and second readings, changes will be made to the draft law taking into account the proposals that were voiced during the discussions.

Tunyan noted that there is political will to revisit this issue and reach a mutually acceptable decision.

Earlier, deputy finance minister Arman Poghosyan argued that as a result of the government-proposed changes about 13 billion drams of taxes would be additionally collected.

Representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises a argue that their tax burden would eventually increase further and could reach 33 per cent instead of the current 5 per cent.

Fifteen public organizations sent a letter to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan demanding to engage in a constructive dialogue regarding the proposed amendments to the Tax Code -0-