Tuesday, February 18 2020 17:16

ArmInfo.On February 18, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a consultation during which the Concept of Tax Reform in the Republic of Armenia was discussed.

According to the press service of Prime Minister, the Minister of  Finance Atom Janjughazyan presented the goals, directions and  principles set forth in the concept of tax reform, in accordance with  which these changes should occur, as well as the expected results of  these changes. The main goal is to develop a balanced approach that  will contribute to the creation of favorable conditions for economic  development, the solution of social problems and a balanced attitude  to the environment. The Minister touched on steps aimed at improving  tax policy, simplifying tax administration and strengthening the  culture of tax payments.

Emphasizing the importance of the topic, Prime Minister Pashinyan  said: ""We are going to make very courageous decisions in the future  starting from property tax up to the next tax changes. The logic and  goal of these changes is the following that the state revenues should  increase with the logic to give an opportunity to the economy to  develop so that they will further increase in the future. And people  should change their attitude to paying taxes which exists today. So  what we need to do for this purpose? Firstly, the pillar is the  anti-corruption fight, in other words each citizen of Armenia should  be convinced that there is a government in Armenia which doesn't rob  from them and doesn't rob from any place, and not only the  government, but also the whole public administration system. The  citizens should be convinced that State authority is not stealing,  and if there are cases of robbery, that people will be found and  punished.

The second one is the constant increase of efficiency of maintenance  costs of the public administration system, in other words, we must  convince our citizens every year that we spend the money paid by them  purposefully, effectively and in a right way, including also how the  employees of the public administration system are paid, starting from  bonuses up to other social guarantees. I think today all the  necessary political conditions exist based on the results of 2019  that we should also ensure the high salaries of employees of public  administration system, at the same time guaranteeing their high  qualification".

During the exchange of views, issues of strengthening and introducing  a culture of steady payment of taxes, providing tax incentives for  areas, introducing a system of declaring income, collecting taxes,  and others were discussed.  Nikol Pashinyan noted that the presented  concept should become the basis of the tax reform strategy, and when  discussing and finalizing it, the tasks should be considered from the  point of view of long-term solutions and ensuring interconnection  with other conceptual documents.