Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Attended by several businessmen - members of the presidium of the Armenian union of industrialists and businessmen (employers), as well as members of the prime minister-led supreme council on introduction of a new culture in revenue administration (SCINCRA), a meeting was held at the Office of Government to discuss progress in tax reform and a public administration-related agenda.
To begin with, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan thanked businessmen for this initiative and went on to note that meetings like this will allow getting a more accurate idea of the pace of tax reforms, the existing problems and, through joint efforts, will make it possible to overcome within the shortest possible time any obstacles on the way to creating favorable conditions for expansion of entrepreneurship in Armenia. Tigran Sargsyan emphasized the need for ensuring transparency in tax and customs service reform and administrative improvement processes as publicity is seen as a serious monitoring tool for the business community. He advised that users may have access to specific information on the websites of tax and customs services regarding the goods imported, customs cleaning fees etc. This will ban the possibility of conducting illegal transactions by creating equal conditions for all market operators. According to the head of government, this is also due to build up public confidence for government policies.
Chairman of the Armenian union of industrialists and businessmen (employers), Apaven LLC CEO Arsen Ghazaryan thanked the Prime Minister for prompt response to the initiative of holding this meeting and the readiness to conduct joint discussions on the problems available. "Precise tasks have been formulated following the latest meeting with the President of the Republic, especially in the field of tax administration improvements. We were among the first to welcome the year-long reform efforts as lawful operations seem to be the only way to economic development. Nationwide adherence to bureaucratic standards is the key to combating shadow economy. There is no alternative to exposing the real volume of trade turnover and complying with full tax-payer liabilities. The government has adopted a strong, even a revolutionary tax policy. We welcome this policy line and are ready to support the government by holding consultations, sharing experience and making remarks, sometimes critical ones in order to find prompt and effective response to this difficult problem," Arsen Ghazaryan said. Among other priority tasks, he mentioned the large-scale checks of major businesses which is an objective necessity. Nevertheless, due to the fact that the imports sector is not yet streamlined completely, the sales circuit proves impossible to expose in its integrity. As a result, we can now witness certain fall in the level of realized goods. According to the head of the UIBE, this is mainly caused by the market
's failure to respond to the government's policy. Another key challenge is that psychologically people are not prepared to believe that everyone is given equal treatment now. The situation in marzes was said to be more deplorable as only 20-30% of shops are registered as trading entities in the province which prevents the real state of affairs from being revealed and addressed. In view of the above, he concluded that the old traditions as established over many years of vicious practices, exasperated by the lack of corresponding alternatives, may undermine the smooth expansion of Armenia's economy. In this respect, he pointed out the key role of the newly established public council by the State tax service, supposed to carry out service probes and hold open debates with domestic manufacturers.Then the floor was given to speakers other than UIBE and RANC members who expressed their concerns about the discussed problems.
In conclusion, the Prime Minister expressed gratitude for a frankly-spoken and interested discussion. He emphasized that the government is not going to step down from the implementation of the proposed programs and will continue along the path leading to a situation where all domestic operators will work using original documents by exposing the real volume of commodity circulation, everyone will be brought into the legal field and will work under equal competitive terms.
"You should be confident that illegally imported goods will be banned from the home market as their influx will be stopped on the very frontier and everything will be done in full transparency. Any unrecorded commodity will have to be sold through the shops network, supported by relevant documentation."
Regarding the SCINCRA activities, Tigran Sargsyan advised that the council sits 3 times a week to discuss such issues related with the improvement of domestic tax and customs administrations as may prove to be of interest to both the government and the business circles. The Prime Minister accepted the proposal made by the business community on enlisting a representative from the business circles in the council.
