ArmInfo. The RA Tax Code defines certain privileges for the Armenian Apostolic Church. Chairman of the RA State Revenue Committee Rustam Badasyan stated in a conversation with journalists on May 31.
According to him, if something is sold for profit, should be taxed. However, as the head of the SRC noted, there is currently no process to involve the AAC in the tax field. "I know about this," Badasyan said.
He also reported that the church has employees who pay income tax. However, according to Badasyan, what implies religious purposes should not be taxed, but what is alienated, for which money is paid, this should be considered. For example, if a believer donates an amount to the Church without any purpose, then there should be no questions, but when it comes to the sale of goods, for example, candles, then taxation can be applied.
A few days ago, during a speech in parliament, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Alen Simonyan said that the time has come to discuss and understand why tax obligations that exist for everyone do not apply to the church.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Tavush for the Motherland movement, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan called these statements of the speaker a lie. According to him, the AAC regularly pays taxes, suggesting to refer to statistics, according to which, according to the results of 2023, the AAC paid about 435 million drams to the budget, taking 758th place in the list of the largest taxpayers in the country, and over 147 million drams according to the results of the first quarter of 2024 , ranking 488th. Notably, on May 31, during the discussions of the report on the implementation of the 2023 budget, MP Tsovinar Vardanyan announced that the ruling Civil Contract faction was preparing a project on taxation of the property of the Armenian Apostolic Church. "There are no projects on taxation of the church in circulation yet. But my colleagues and I are working in this direction," Vardanyan said. According to her, it has been said more than once that the church already pays taxes. But we are talking about the income tax paid by clergy. "We are not talking about churches, but about commercial, public, industrial premises, residential buildings. All this is being considered and I think the time will come when we will have a bill," Vardanyan said.
