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'UNDERGROUND CONVENTION' DECIDED
HAKOB BADALYAN
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/comments27780.html
Published: 14:38:25 - 19/10/2012
"We don't say that we cannot collect. We say let's sit down and talk
about what spheres and in what ways," stated the head of the State
Revenue Committee Gagik Khachatryan as he was asked if he will be able
to collect the additional 100 billion drams of revenues estimated in
the state budget 2012 when he expressed concern about the feasibility
of boosting tax collections.
Gagik Khachatryan is telling something interesting. We can collect
but let us sit down and think on where and how. If Gagik Khachatryan
does not know where and how and proposes sitting down and thinking,
how does he announce that we can collect? If he does not know where
to collect taxes, how can he collect them at all? Or maybe the taxes
are somewhere where Khachatryan's agency cannot reach, such as on
Mount Ararat.
However, Gagik Khachatryan knows where taxes are but when he says
there is a need to sit down and discuss from where to collect the
taxes, he proposes an "underworld convention" in case someone blames
him later. After all, Khachatryan is one of them, not an unbiased
official who follows his contractual duties without any exception,
taxes everyone in accordance with the law.
The underworld convention will decide which part of 100 billion drams
will be paid by each oligarch and which part will be squeezed from
SMEs. The participants of this meeting, the members of the so-called
tax security council, are not known but this council will draft the
road map of tax collections and the tax service will simply follow it.
Moreover, the fight for power in Armenia is fight for a place in
the tax security council. For instance, the leader of the PAP Gagik
Tsarukyan has a seat in the National Security Council but he is more
interested in whether he has a place in the "tax security council". He
can afford to miss the meeting of the NSC and leave for Belarus but
nobody will dare miss the TSC meeting because everyone's interests
are at stake there.
Whenever calls for tax and customs administration are made in Armenia,
including by the foreign financial partners of our country, they
mean the legislation should draw the tax map, not the underground
convention. And this is the reason why this reform is not implemented
because as soon as the legislation defines the tax map, a lot more
will need to be done according to the legislation, and finally there
will be a need to leave power in accordance with the law.
A lawful tax and customs administration is one of the formulas of
eternity of the Armenian government. This is the reason why Gagik
Khachatryan remains the head of the State Revenue Committee. The
government cannot find a reason to remove him. This person states
sincerely that he does what everyone decides together. In other words,
he is not doing anything on his own which could be a reason to remove
him. Therefore, Khachatryan ensures himself from the very beginning
by stating that the additional 100 billion will not be collected. If
nevertheless he does collect this money later, the laurels might be
shared by others but he does not care for laurels. All he cares for
is his position.
HAKOB BADALYAN
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/comments27780.html
Published: 14:38:25 - 19/10/2012
"We don't say that we cannot collect. We say let's sit down and talk
about what spheres and in what ways," stated the head of the State
Revenue Committee Gagik Khachatryan as he was asked if he will be able
to collect the additional 100 billion drams of revenues estimated in
the state budget 2012 when he expressed concern about the feasibility
of boosting tax collections.
Gagik Khachatryan is telling something interesting. We can collect
but let us sit down and think on where and how. If Gagik Khachatryan
does not know where and how and proposes sitting down and thinking,
how does he announce that we can collect? If he does not know where
to collect taxes, how can he collect them at all? Or maybe the taxes
are somewhere where Khachatryan's agency cannot reach, such as on
Mount Ararat.
However, Gagik Khachatryan knows where taxes are but when he says
there is a need to sit down and discuss from where to collect the
taxes, he proposes an "underworld convention" in case someone blames
him later. After all, Khachatryan is one of them, not an unbiased
official who follows his contractual duties without any exception,
taxes everyone in accordance with the law.
The underworld convention will decide which part of 100 billion drams
will be paid by each oligarch and which part will be squeezed from
SMEs. The participants of this meeting, the members of the so-called
tax security council, are not known but this council will draft the
road map of tax collections and the tax service will simply follow it.
Moreover, the fight for power in Armenia is fight for a place in
the tax security council. For instance, the leader of the PAP Gagik
Tsarukyan has a seat in the National Security Council but he is more
interested in whether he has a place in the "tax security council". He
can afford to miss the meeting of the NSC and leave for Belarus but
nobody will dare miss the TSC meeting because everyone's interests
are at stake there.
Whenever calls for tax and customs administration are made in Armenia,
including by the foreign financial partners of our country, they
mean the legislation should draw the tax map, not the underground
convention. And this is the reason why this reform is not implemented
because as soon as the legislation defines the tax map, a lot more
will need to be done according to the legislation, and finally there
will be a need to leave power in accordance with the law.
A lawful tax and customs administration is one of the formulas of
eternity of the Armenian government. This is the reason why Gagik
Khachatryan remains the head of the State Revenue Committee. The
government cannot find a reason to remove him. This person states
sincerely that he does what everyone decides together. In other words,
he is not doing anything on his own which could be a reason to remove
him. Therefore, Khachatryan ensures himself from the very beginning
by stating that the additional 100 billion will not be collected. If
nevertheless he does collect this money later, the laurels might be
shared by others but he does not care for laurels. All he cares for
is his position.