The state does not get into people's pockets – Pashinyan presents goals of income declaration system
3 minute read
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has underscored the importance of the income declaration system within the context of the transition from statelessness to statehood.
“This system is crucial in the transition from statelessness to statehood. It is safe to say that the income declaration system is one of the steps that should guide us from the behavior of a stateless people to that of a state-owning people,” Pashinyan said during a Parliamentary Q&A session with Cabinet members.
The Prime Minister mentioned that the declaration system pursues several goals, one of which is the completion of the fight against corruption. He emphasized that the system aims to strengthen anti-corruption efforts and prevent corruption.
Pashinyan noted that corruption is not limited to high-ranking officials.
"There are many officials who are not high-ranking and do not submit declaration. Moreover, there are family members of declared officials who are not included in the general declaration system. In any corruption scheme, there is often a person who holds no official status. Therefore, this is important for completing the anti-corruption struggle and preventing corruption, ensuring we do not leave room for the formation of 'lakes' of corruption," the Prime Minister said.
Another goal of the declaration system, according to Pashinyan, is to make the government's social policy more targeted and inclusive.
"We have a system for assessing social insecurity, which has traditionally been one of the most corrupt fields in our country. The assessment of a person’s social status has been subjective. Moreover, we have many people receiving family or poverty benefits who may have deposits of up to several million in banks and receive interest. We do not want to harm anyone, but we want to redirect that money from those who objectively do not need it to those who truly do,” Pashinyan explained.
Addressing concerns about "why does the state get into a citizen's pocket?", Pashinyan stressed that he absolutely disagrees with that narrative.
"Whose state is that? The state belongs to the person who says that. The state does not get into its own pocket. It checks its own left pocket with one hand and its right pocket with the other. The state does not enter anyone’s pocket; it goes and beckons to that person, saying, ‘You are my master, don’t alienate from me,’" he noted.