YEREVAN, DECEMBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The tax legislation amendments presented by the RA government to the National Assembly with the aim of ensuring the execution of the 2009 state budget may be dangerous for the Armenian economy under conditions of the global economic crisis. Several deputies of the National Assembly expressed this concern at the December 5 sitting of the NA Standing Committee of Economic Issues. In particular, member of "ARF" faction Artsvik Minasian said that the heavy tax burden may reduce circulating assets of enterprises and hinder the expansion of their activities. The package submitted by the government includes 11 bills, including bills on value added tax, profit tax, fixed payment and honorary payments. According to the deputy chairman of the State Revenue Committee Aharon Chilingarian, the amendments proposed in these bills are aimed at encouraging investments and local production. In particular, it is proposed that enterprises with an annual turnover of less than 58.2 million drams, part of whose operation is taxed by charging fixed payments, should be given the opportunity to choose the united tax regime. Among such enterprises are hotels and hairdressing saloons. A. Chilingarian said that this amendment is proposed at the suggestion of entrepreneurs themselves, in order to rid them of long checks and red tape. In the opinion of deputies, it is risky to raise the rates of fixed payments. Particularly, the matter concerns fixed payment for hotels without qualification: it is envisaged fixing the monthly payment at 3 thousand drams per a square meter, which, according to deputies, is an excessively high payment. The deputies also expressed discontent with the mechanism of introducing value added tax (VAT) in agriculture. In the words of member of "Heritage" faction Larisa Alaverdian, the proposals to create farms is reminiscent of the Soviet-time collectivization which, according to the rules of that time, also was allegedly to be voluntary.

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