We should abandon turnover tax in the long term - Pashinyan

Armenia should completely abandon  the turnover tax in the long term, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated during a Q&A session with Cabinet members in parliament.

“Our analysis indicates that there is hardly any country in the world that has both a turnover tax and a value-added tax,” Pashinyan said.

According to the Prime Minister, countries typically have a single tax system.

“We say, dear citizens, we must all contribute to taxes, and we must all be taxed properly. Taxation does not mean taking from people's hands, because these taxes are used to meet the needs of the people. No matter how much it is said that bonuses are paid, those represent only a small percentage of the state budget. There are unavoidable operating costs in any economic formula. Let’s not confuse the issues,” Pashinyan added.

He emphasized that the money generated through these taxes is used to build infrastructure such as roads and address various other challenges, as this is a state obligation.

“In the long term, my view is that we should completely eliminate the turnover tax, or alternatively, we should abandon the value-added tax, though this is not realistic. We cannot change the largest tax-generating sector of our economy. We cannot discard it, because for at least a few years, this would create a gap. In the long and medium terms, we must completely eliminate the turnover tax,” he concluded.