YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. The National Assembly of Armenia on February 24 passed in first reading the bill on amendments to the RA Law on Excise Tax. The bill was submitted by members of "RPA" parliamentary faction Galust Sahakian and Armen Ashotian. It proposes reviewing the amendments made to this law in late 2008, according to which in particular the rates of VAT on imported alcoholic drinks will considerably rise starting from March 1. The bill proposes reducing the difference in the VAT rates of domestic goods and imported ones. "ARF" faction did not participate in the vote, while "Heritage" faction voted against. It is noteworthy that the bill's authors substantiated the proposed amendment by the circumstance that such differentiation with respect to the indicated goods may result in a decline of imports, which will not be conducive to higher quality of the same goods made in Armenia - due to unequal conditions of competition. The parliament also passed in first reading the government's bill on amendments and additions to the RA Law on Value Added Tax. The government considers it an anticrisis measure and proposes that in case of the import of certain goods by companies selected in the order established by the government, the period of collection of VAT calculated by customs bodies should be deferred for up to 3 years, if the customs value of the imported commodity or the investment package make 300 million drams (about 1 million USD) and over.

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