A hundred of the 131 deputies are against this bill.
Support A1+!The thing that concerned National Assembly deputies the most today were the changes foreseen in the Law on "Taxes" in the packet of reforms on taxing legislation presented to the government.
The National Assembly began discussion on the bill today. The bill provides the opportunity to prohibit the entrance of any company that has 500+ workers and receives an annual income exceeding 4.5 million. The passing of this bill will have an impact on nearly 120 companies in Armenia.
This legislation functions only in the CIS countries, but the Russian Federation has refused to use this method of taxing. Informer of the bill, RA Deputy Minister of Finance Suren Karanyan was not able to convince NA Deputies that the purpose of his initiative is not to oversee business, but to tax companies and eradicate the shady economy. Deputies were disappointed with Karayan today.
"You have not taken into account any of our proposals. A hundred of our 131 deputies are ready to vote against this initiative, but are not speaking out. This is an anti-state bill," said Deputy Karen Vardanyan, who announced that Mr. Karayan had told them during a NA finance/credit committee session that all proposals will be taken into account if the committee approves the package.
Deputy Ara Nranyan even accused the Deputy Minister of wrapping the National Assembly around his finger.
"I am not trying to wrap anyone around my finger. I have not told the committee members that we will approve all proposals," said the Deputy Minister. According to Naira Zohrabyan, the bill in question contains elements of violation of human rights and revelation of confidentiality of businesses because it only gives the inspector the chance to set bans and barge in on the taxpayer at any given moment. According to the logic of the law, the inspector may enter the taxpayer's home. Deputy Stepan Aslanyan disagreed with the government official who said that this change would help small and medium entrepreneurs and was interested in knowing how many tax inspectors would be involved in this process. NA Chairman Hovik Abrahamyan responded angrily and said: "Don't you trust tax inspectors?"
Based on statistics of 2008, there are 120 companies in Armenia whose annual income exceeds 4 million drams. Deputy Alexan Petrosyan finds that this law is dysfunctional because any businessman may lay off 500 workers at his production and keep his doors closed for tax inspectors.
One of the NA Deputies who wished to remain unanimous told "A1+":
"With the logic by which the government has written the law, we can say that since drivers commit violations, there can be a state automobile inspector in every car to help prevent those violations."
The deputies are certain that the passing of this bill will create obstacles for development of local production in Armenia and will not allow small and medium businesses to grow. The National Assembly will continue discussions on the government's taxing legislation packet during the next four-day session or a special session.
