Politicians and commentators used to attach a label without delving into the phenomenon and then deal with populist speculations based on it. They immediately named the amendments in the laws on income tax laws and profit tax a “law on taxation of labor migrants,” a conclusion was drawn based on verbal conversations that henceforth any citizen of Armenia leaving for the migrant work will be forced paying 13 percent of his revenues to the state budget of Armenia. Well, making dramatic and tragic exclamations based on this wrong assumption is one to one.
While the RA citizen dealing with labor migrant just gets a chance to choose, either a/ to pay 13 percent of the tax in Armenia, if the construction company is registered in our country but operates in Russia (if there are such companies, then there are very few), or b/ pay 13 percent tax in Russia, when the company is registered in this country (there are thousands of such construction companies), or c/ evade of paying anything anywhere and receive “black wages” as it is common in Russia.
If our migrant workers will choose the first option, then they will lose nothing, but only paying a tax in Armenia. It’s another matter that this option is so fat purely theoretical, and it is not yet clear how the Russian side treats it. The second option is more likely for rarely Armenians who are willing or forced to work in the field of taxation, firstly, because in this case the job offers in Russia are endless, secondly, because the person leaving Armenia is “upset” with our country and will prefer not to have any business with it. In this case, he will pay the same 13 percent only in Russia. Well, as for the third option, as they say, is “at hand”.
So, none of our migrant builders cannot and is not going to take an additional 13 percent income tax, and a part of the political rhetoric is built on a simple ignorance. On the other hand, a question arises of why the income tax in Armenia is 24 percent, and why no conditions are created in Armenia for our builders to work by their specialty. Which is better: for the people to stay in Armenia and pay 13 percent tax or leave Armenia and pay nothing? If the huge Armenian businessmen of Russia will make investments to register a company in Armenia and to take construction workers from here to Russia, then why they do not make investments in the construction in Armenia.
Read also
Parallel to dealing with populism based on wrong information and turning the problem away, let the parliamentarians occasionally ask these questions too.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
