Economist Armen Grigoryan thinks that the State Revenue Committee’s initiative to pay taxes with ID cards is not a good method and it contains many risks. The head of the State Revenue Committee announced that starting in 2020, all citizens between the ages of 18 and 65 will become taxpayers. Their ID cards will become accumulative, and making purchases with the cards during the first year will ensure that citizens get one percent of the money they spent back, 2 percent during the second year, and 3 percent during the third year. “It’s still unclear what technical methods will be used. Stores need to be armed with the appropriate tools that will be connected to servers that contain the private information of Armenian citizens. How safe is that?” Armen Grigoryan told reporters.
According to Grigoryan, noting sales volume in documentation- the SRC’s readiness to decrease its shadow in the economy- is applaudable, but the mechanisms for taxes still are unclear. “For example, let’s say that every member of a family has an ID card, but only one or two of them make purchases. They will get cash back from their purchases, but perhaps the amount they spend is more than the amount they receive. Let’s say someone receives one million drams every year as part of their salary, but they spend 1.2 million drams because they make purchases using another family member’s card. This person will then be asked where they got that additional 200 thousand dram from. Therefore, isn’t it clear what mechanisms will be used to count that?”
According to the economist, people who get higher salaries will accumulate more through making purchases with their ID cards, and those who receive little will accumulate little. “There will be polarization. I think that those who receive more should be taxed higher, and those who receive less should be taxed lower. I hope that legislation will regulate these issues.”
Luiza Sukiasyan
