The topic of “Aravot” online “Face to Face” talk show is presented by NA MP Vardan Ayvazyan.
Aram Abrahamyan – One of the arguments of your opponents against the government program is that only 3 items are written as a benchmark: 65000 drams wages, 5 percent economic growth, and 10 percent poverty reduction. Why the milestones are so few?
Vardan Ayvazyan – The government program, first of all, is a policy document, secondly, under current circumstances, it is the formulation of main approaches to withstand the challenges. And the program on tactics, which we are speaking about, they are more often reflected in other documents. For example, the state budget, triennial development program, specific laws and program provisions, which are introduced, and we approve them, and it’s a constant process. We have, however, an annual budget, and the budget is described in detail, sector by sector, in addition, there is a triennial development program. In addition, each legislative package includes possibility of solving some specific problem. Therefore, if we take the government program, then it is a message presented in advance, which is sent by the Government. Therefore, I made it very clear in my speech that, for instances, one of the most important benchmarks for me is that the approach has been significantly changed. The priority issue is to ensure the well-being, and the remaining any other function will be only and merely a tool to ensure this well-being.
A. A. – Suppose, the poverty is reduced by 10 percent. We have 200 thousand families who are worse off, if the poverty is reduced by 10 percent, it would be 180 thousand families. Will it change the situation?
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V. A. – At least, it is not already 200 thousand. The government clearly states how this will be achieved. We are talking by absolute numbers; small and medium business is in two regimes of taxation: licensing fees and turnover tax. In average, if you take the total number of business entities in the economic field of Armenia, 72-73 thousand are constantly giving the report; 59 thousand businesses are paying these two types of taxes. The government does not view them as taxpayers, it says, let’s generally make these people tax-free, he does not need paying tax, he is giving over 20 billion to the state budget, let’s refuse. The leader of the government says that the state budget is not a priority for him, this 20 billion is not the amount, the employee there is much more important for me. If we take that 2-3 people are working at each economic entity, and 60 000 economic entity with 3 employee, it amounts to 200 000 people employed, if we divided this by the average number, we will have 4000 families.
A. A. – In other words, shouldn’t they pay taxes at all?
V. A. – I think, let’s exempt those of up to 30 million turnover. I will speak in numbers. 47, 000 businesses have a turnover of up to 10 million, the number of those having a turnover of up to 30 million, i.e. 47,000, amounts to 4800, in short, 53800 economic entities are saying, if we can make the mechanism work in such a way, we are ready to admit that he will not pay at all.
A. A. – This implies that you should elaborate such a law.
V. A. – Yes, this law exists in the government program, it is de facto in the parliament. But we say that we totally exempt you, or give us, for example, 1000 dram for having accountability and knowing where the economic entity is, but we are raising a mandatory condition that the documentation should be in order, in other words, do not conduct your shadow business without a document, because when you are conducting trade without a document, when I am exempting you from it, then the big business runs out from here.
A. A. – And can the big pretend a small?
V. A. – No, it cannot pretend, because we have overseeing functions. If we know, for example, that this organization had a turnover of 100-200 million, let’s fix it like it was done in Georgia, let’s install a video camera, and say, if you are hiding your turnover, in other words, you have more than 30 million but you are hiding it, then let’s pay a fine. Now we say, come, have a mandatory document, the small says, why I force the mandatory. Let us understand, if I am saying that I exempt you from the tax, you should not pay, in other words, you should also be a little worried to have the correct documentation.
Prepared by ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
“Face to Face” talk show series are released by the Open Society Foundations- Armenia. The views and analyzes found in this broadcast express the opinions of the participants, and are not approved by the Open Society Foundations-Armenia, or its Board. This broadcast is made available thanks to comprehensive financial support by the Open Society Foundations-Armenia, under the mass media support program, grant No 18624.
