ArmInfo.At the November 15 meeting, the Armenian government rejected the legislative initiative of MP from the ''Yelk'' bloc Gevorg Gorgisyan, according to which it is proposed to release sales of agricultural products from VAT.
As stated in the justification for the initiative, unequal competitive conditions have been created between the local agricultural producers and importers as a result of the current tax regulations. In particular, according to the legislation of Armenia, today the trading networks, which are the largest consumers of local agricultural and meat products in Armenia, are obliged to sell them with VAT. As a result, prices for domestic products increased by almost 30%. At the same time, imports of meat products from Belarus and Russia increased. Thus, local meat products are sold in supermarkets for at least 3600-3700 drams, and Belarusian - 2800-2900 drams. The same picture took shape in the Armenian market of fruits and vegetables.
Meanwhile, representing the negative conclusion of the government on the proposed draft law. Minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan noted that the reason for this phenomenon is the insufficient productivity of Armenian agriculture and its inability to sell products at competitive prices. As Janjugazyan stressed, if this project is adopted, the authorities will have to subsidize agriculture, it will weaken and lose its motivation to increase competitiveness in the market.
In addition, the Acting Finance Minister stressed that the adoption of the bill will lead to a reduction in tax revenues of the state budget of Armenia. And so, as the financier recalled, annual tax losses of the state treasury in the framework of various benefits are estimated at about 442 billion drams.