Armenian government increases premium fund of State Revenue Committee

ArmInfo. "Now we are going to discuss the most scandalous topic of the year. Guess what we are talking about? Of course, there are bonuses in the State Revenue  Committee," Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan began discussing the issue  of increasing the fund for financial incentives for SRC employees. We  are talking about raising it by about 2.3 billion drams - to about  4.2 billion drams.

The prime minister recalled that the year 2018 was rather difficult  in terms of ensuring tax revenues of the state budget. The  complexity, according to the head of the government, was due to  tectonic shifts in the political life of the country. Nevertheless,  the Prime Minister stressed, including as a result of the high-  quality work of the SRC staff, tax collections in the first quarter  of 2019 exceeded the program indicator by 11.4 billion drams. "This  amount by 2 billion drams exceeds the size of the reserve fund of the  Armenian government," he explained.

At the same time, on the basis of these achievements, as Pashinyan  pointed out, the government revised its expectations in the line of  tax revenues to the state treasury in 2019 by 40 billion upward.  "This will allow us to initiate the process of raising the money  allowance for servicemen from July 1, 2019, and from September 1 of  this year - the salaries of teachers," the premier said.

In addition, Pashinyan once again emphasized that if the government  seeks to increase the prestige of the civil service and motivate to  achieve results, it should be financially encouraged - today in the  form of bonus payments, and in the future, perhaps by revising the  wage system of officials. According to Pashinyan, one cannot demand  from an ordinary tax inspector, who receives a salary in the amount  of 160 thousand drams of high-quality and cordial work.

At the same time, the head of the Cabinet of Ministers reminded that  last year the SRC bonus fund amounted to 6 billion drams, the tax  authorities did not "disdain" the money transferred to them in an  envelope. Thus, the employees of the tax and customs committee who  distinguished themselves with their work will no longer remain  without financial incentives.

As a result, the Armenian government satisfied the application of the  RA State Revenue Committee for an increase in the bonus fund. At the  same time, as the head of the SRC David Ananyan noted, even following  the increase in the Fund, the department does not return to last  year's employee benefits, but limited to 60% of last year's funds.

At the same time, according to Ananyan, in the near future, the SRC  will present a 5-year strategy for the development of the tax and  customs committee.

As stated in the statement of rationale for the document, the  approved size of the fund for financial encouragement of the ministry  at 1 billion 837 million drams was not sufficient for the  implementation of bonus payments generated from previous years.  Financial incentives will be assigned to employees who have shown  high efficiency in their work, thereby ensuring the natural progress  of the SRC activity.

To note, large bonuses issued by state structures by the end of last  year caused a great public response:  people complained that, against  the background of low salaries in the republic, government officials  write large sums to themselves. The largest awards were given to the  SRC and the Ministry of Finance, they reached from 2 to 9 million  drams. To clarify the sensational bonuses, the heads of the SRC and  the Ministry of Finance of Armenia were invited to the parliament,  who assured that the premiums paid were strictly within the law. "We  have fixed problems, and this year the SRC bonus fund will be reduced  by half.  In general, all government agencies will receive bonuses in  the amount of 30% of their salary," said Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan after discussions. However, on the eve of the meeting with  journalists, the chief tax officer of Armenia, David Ananyan, stated  that he intends to award his employees further. According to him, the  law does not prohibit rewarding employees c monthly frequency.

To note, today's government meeting was held in an unusually  democratic regime - for the first time two government members voted  against the decision to increase the premium group of the SRC -  Minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan and Deputy Minister of Culture  Tigran Galstyan.