"CASTRATED" LUXURY TAX
Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/economy24480.html
Published: 14:32:17 - 07/12/2011
The tax on luxury that was approved by the parliament yesterday
is limited to a couple of expensive cars. Once they are defined as
"luxurious", their owners will be charged 20% of their cost. But the
government will use every opportunity to declare about fight against
social injustice and tax on wealthy people.
In the meantime, the parliament is likely to approve the draft budget
on these days, hence approving the activities of the government for
the next year. The same government, which adopted the amendments to
the law on subsoil, which infuriated environmentalists because the
amendments give even more freedom to the owners of mines.
The same government, thanks to which the foreign debt of Armenia has
reached 3.5 billion in October from 200 million at the beginning of
the year.
The government which stimulates the growth of remittances by boosting
emigration. In January-October 2011 remittances amounted to USD
1.24 billion compared with last year's USD 1 billion. 1 billion was
transferred from Russia.
The greater part of this money then flows to Turkey or China from where
consumer products are imported to Armenia. Actually, the refusal of
the government to interfere in the price formation of imported goods
leads to the fact that importer monopolists receive excess profits
making the population poorer.
No matter how hard the government tries to work out "ambitious"
economic strategies etc., the result is evident - emigration increases,
a handful of people make huge profits, while local production regresses
and the only thing to rely on is remittances.
Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/economy24480.html
Published: 14:32:17 - 07/12/2011
The tax on luxury that was approved by the parliament yesterday
is limited to a couple of expensive cars. Once they are defined as
"luxurious", their owners will be charged 20% of their cost. But the
government will use every opportunity to declare about fight against
social injustice and tax on wealthy people.
In the meantime, the parliament is likely to approve the draft budget
on these days, hence approving the activities of the government for
the next year. The same government, which adopted the amendments to
the law on subsoil, which infuriated environmentalists because the
amendments give even more freedom to the owners of mines.
The same government, thanks to which the foreign debt of Armenia has
reached 3.5 billion in October from 200 million at the beginning of
the year.
The government which stimulates the growth of remittances by boosting
emigration. In January-October 2011 remittances amounted to USD
1.24 billion compared with last year's USD 1 billion. 1 billion was
transferred from Russia.
The greater part of this money then flows to Turkey or China from where
consumer products are imported to Armenia. Actually, the refusal of
the government to interfere in the price formation of imported goods
leads to the fact that importer monopolists receive excess profits
making the population poorer.
No matter how hard the government tries to work out "ambitious"
economic strategies etc., the result is evident - emigration increases,
a handful of people make huge profits, while local production regresses
and the only thing to rely on is remittances.