At the joint sitting of the NA Standing Committees on Economic Affairs and on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs the debate of the annual report on 2024 RA State Budget Execution was debated. The Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs Babken Tunyan and the Chair of the Standing Committee on Financial-Credit Tsovinar Vardanyan moderated the sitting.
The SRC Chairman Eduard Hakobyan informed the deputies that a 5.1 percent or 117 billion drams increase in tax revenues was recorded. There was an 11.2 percent increase in the tax body, which is more progressive than the rates of economic growth or activity.
A decrease of approximately 15 percent was recorded in collections by the customs body. The SRC Chairman attributed this circumstance to objective problems with collections at the border or imports. In previous years, there were growth rates in the import of cars and cigarettes, which decreased in 2024. There was a decrease of 0.5 percentage points in the tax-GDP sector. The rapporteur attributed the above trends mainly to the circumstances of a decrease in imports and changes in the structure of the economy.
It was noted that in recent years, high growth rates have been recorded in two sectors: the banking system and construction.
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For the period from January to May of this year, there has already been an increase of 142 billion in collections, which implies a 14.4 percent increase.
In 2024, about 392 billion were returned to taxpayers, most of which relates to the return of income tax against mortgage interest payments.
Regarding the activities of the SRC, the head of the structure noted that the administrative efficiency indicator was about 1.2 percent, and the expenditure efficiency indicator was 1.1 percent. “That is, our society spends 1.1-1.2 percent of taxes to properly implement tax collection functions,” Eduard Hakobyan noted.
In recent years, there have been periodic revenues coming out of the shadows by 0.3-0.4 percentage points, which means an additional 30-40 billion in revenues annually.
The next indicator for assessing the efficiency of the SRC activities, according to Eduard Hakobyan, is the satisfaction of business operators. According to the results of the past year, 83 percent of respondents were satisfied with the work of the tax authority, and about 80 percent were satisfied with the work of the customs authority.
The mortgage interest repayment programme was fully implemented – 68.6 billion drams. A certain deviation from the programme related to tax and customs services is due to performance. It amounted to 34.1 billion drams, ensuring 86.1 percent performance.
The head of the structure presented the reforms implemented in 2024, aimed at reducing the shadow economy, improving the tax analysis system, introducing a law enforcement system, improving the customs risk analysis system, reforming digitalization, introducing a customs payment system, improving customs procedures, strengthening infrastructure, employee capabilities, and working with international partners.
“Paying taxes is not only a constitutional obligation, but also the contribution of all of us to our big family budget, aimed at ensuring a high quality of life for all of us and making us all fully happy. Paying taxes conscientiously is taking care and responsibility to ensure such a life for present and future generations and our children,” Eduard Hakobyan noted at the end of his speech.
In the Q&A session, the SRC Chairman referred to the income tax refund policy, changes in import rates and slowdowns in economic growth, capital accumulation, and other sectoral issues.
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