"Fact" daily writes:
The growth rate of economic activity in Armenia is continuously slowing down, recording the lowest rate of this year in October - 4.2%. It is expected that we will have a lower rate of growth with the results of November. Naturally, the decrease in the growth rates will have its effect on the state budget revenues.
However, while the state of Armenia's economy continues to get complicated, the government is thinking about how to ensure the revenues of the state budget. well, Nikol Pashinyan likes to brag about "record tax revenues" in government meetings. One of the options to increase the income of the state budget can be the injections that stimulate different directions in the economy, but the authorities first of all do not have the appropriate professional potential to take systematic steps towards the development of the branches of the economy.
On the other hand, they are generally far from applying the concept of investments, because it takes time to record results, and the government is generally not in the mood to wait and wants to have "unprecedented" indicators at once. That is why they prefer to go forward in the easiest way, that is, the sharp increase of the tax burden, which does not require special efforts, and they have long been used to receiving criticism, even the harshest assessments. And at the level of changes in the legislation, conditions are created for the implementation of tax terror.
On the one hand, in the name of universal declaration of income, the government is going to put Armenian citizens through the tax press, and on the other hand, from July 1, 2025, the performance of professional work and the provision of services will be transferred from special taxation systems to a general taxation system.
The transfer of the general tax system applies to the following types of activities: legal activities, accounting activities, head office activities, management consulting, building construction, civil construction, specialized construction activities, real estate operations on a fee or contract basis, architectural and engineering activities, technical testing and analysis, advertising activities and research of the market situation, other professional, scientific and technical activities, temporary labor activities, health care. From this series, it can be seen what kind of wide sector of professional activity and micro-entrepreneurship will be brought to the common tax field.
And the tax burden in a number of directions will be so great that it is difficult to imagine how those carrying out professional activities can withstand the new conditions. After the launch of the new tax initiative, for example, accountants and lawyers will have to pay 44.34% of their profits in tax, as a result of which the net profit for these people engaged in professional activities will decrease, and they will try to compensate for this by increasing the prices of services. In this way, the increase in the prices of services will directly hit the consumers' pockets, making their situation more difficult in financial terms, considering that even now the prices of professional services are quite expensive.
But the authorities justify the transition to this new tax system mainly by the fact that they fight against the shadow, but by doing so, they create conditions for many businessmen and service providers to try to find ways to work in the shadow in order to avoid heavy tax pressures. On the other hand, people engaged in professional activities will prefer to work abroad, where the tax rates are lower. In other words, high taxes will promote professional emigration. In addition, it will become preferable to use the services of specialists operating abroad, as these services will be provided at lower prices compared to those registered in Armenia.
The government assures that they are creating equal tax conditions, so that small businessmen do not restrain their growth, and large businessmen are not artificially divided in order to fit into a more convenient tax system, but first small businessmen must grow to be able to grow. And in the current conditions, an unfavorable environment is created for small businessmen, because large businessmen, working on large quantities, will get an advantage, leave out and swallow small businessmen, thus breaking the backbone of small business.
In order to fight against the shadows, competition, and create an equal tax field, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of the directions of economic activity and form a reasonable tax field, instead of imposing and increasing taxes without calculation. And, as the experts note, if the authorities do not stop in this matter, then in the name of filling the budget, they will very soon put a tax noose on the neck of all business representatives and strangle many, sinking our economic potential as well.
ARTHUR KARAPETIAN
