Vardan Ayvazyan scoffed at perhaps asking Brezhnev for making amendments in the Law on “Income Tax”
“We are joining the EaEU, the Russian law says that income tax is shared between the local budget and the Russian central budget. Do we have the right to demand from the Russian Federation to transfer the income received from our resident to the RA respective regional budget? After joining the EaEU, let’s say, our Alexanyan or Poghosyan are working in Russia. Aren’t we going to say, hey, bro, how are you going to calculate their income tax? Naturally, we should do it, shouldn’t we? You answer that there is no such a practice. The EaEU did not exist then, but it does now,” such questions were poured a few months ago, on October 21, 2014, at the National Assembly sitting, during the discussion on the “Package of laws on granting tax exemptions to border residencies” by the ANC faction MP Hrant Bagratyan addressed to the Deputy Finance Minister Vakhtang Mirumyan, demanding to put this question before the Russians. At that time, Mirumyan said that the issue has not yet been discussed and there is no such a practice and a norm.
On the May 5 sitting, when the government introduced the famous bill on making amendments in the laws on “Income tax” and “Profit tax”, which was labeled as a Law on “Migrants”, Hrant Bagratyan already raised the issue of “letting Putin down”. “Isn’t it clear that if you were the president of Russia, you would say, “Do Armenian’s want to let us down? Oh man, I have not voted for the EaEU, but if you have entered, then behave yourself.” In this regard, in the conversation with “Aravot”, the Republican Party MP and Chairman on NA Economic Affairs, Vardan Ayvazyan, presented explanations on misinterpretations of the law. “This law had nothing to do with the migrant workers. One should have a level of a dilettante, one need to be a serious specialist for distortion to distort the law in this way. It refers only to the RA residents, the legal entities who are registered in Armenia. How can it be related to the migrant workers? The migrant worker goes to Russia, is hired as an employee that is registered in Russia, so how he is associated with this?”
We were curious to know why they should want to pay to the RA state budget. When people are leaving the country and make a business in a foreign country, they are not just leaving, but fleeing the country, complain that there is no investment environment here, a business environment, that the economy is monopolized and there is a lot of unfairness. The, why he should want to be associated with Armenia and pay here if he is in business in Russia, Vardan Ayvazyan replied, “It’s true, the income tax is everyone’s personal tax, but it is paid from the tax agent and the tax agent is the legal entity, the employer. Now, if the employer is registered in Russia, it has nothing to do with Armenia. If you’re registered here but are working there, you are the one to decide, if you pay, it’s good, if not – it’s up to you. Should it be, it will be, if not, then not. But this is an opportunity, it might happen. We believe that the Armenian gene pool will operate here, an Armenian mindset.”
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To our observation of whether the EaEU will allow, Vardan Ayvazyan assured that, yes, it is agreed. “When people say that it would contradict the EaEU, we also say that it will contradict, my dear, it is an international treaty and the international treaty is higher. Russia will enter the second day and we must give. If I’m going to do something today and tomorrow the Russian tells me to wait, this will not work, because the EaEU agreement is ratified. The day it contradicts, it will come and take it away from my hand. We are not idiots to do such a thing. Actually, the law is simply an opportunity for us, and it was inexplicably distorted. When explained at the dilettante level, they drive the talks to another direction, this is a matter of reluctance.” To our question of whether you have asked Putin for bringing such a law, such a question was also raised at the parliament, Vardan Ayvazyan replied, “What? Perhaps we should have asked Brezhnev.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
