Wednesday, March 20 2019 17:07

ArmInfo.Raising state duties cannot contribute to the economic revolution. The owners of exchange offices and pawnshops announced this during the discussions in the parliamentary commission on economic issues.

As Hayk Gevorgyan, a MP from the "My Step" bloc,  stated, according to the regulations proposed by the draft law,  credit organizations will pay a tax of 3 million drams, instead of  the previous 500.000. Moreover, payment and settlement companies will  start paying 1 million drams instead of 250.000, while the banking  bureaus will pay 1 million instead of 500.000, banks 7 million  instead of 3 million drams, exchange points 3 million instead of  30,000, and finally pawn shops 6 million instead of 100.000 drams .

In this regard, the owners of pawnshops and exchange offices stressed  that such a serious increase in state duties would be a real blow to  business, with the result that many entrepreneurs would be forced to  cease their activities, which in turn would lead to unemployment.  Chairman of the Union of Currency Dealers of Armenia Aramais  Khachatryan noted that the draft law was initiated without discussion  with interested parties and without taking into account their  position on this issue. "The average turnover in the exchange offices  of the capital is 10 million drams, and in the regions about 3  million drams. As a result, the monthly income is about 500 thousand  drams, taking into account the payment of salaries and other  expenses," said Khachatryan.

According to him, considering all of the above, they are simply not  able to pay a state duty of 250.000 drams. "In this case, 80% of the  exchange points will be closed," said Khachatryan, noting that  currently 231 exchange offices are operating in Armenia.

The chairman of the Union of Foreign Exchange Dealers also stated  that recently the income of exchange offices in the country has  decreased 2.2 fold. According to him, the reason is that the exchange  offices must serve small-sized transactions.

In turn, MP from the "My Step" bloc Hayk Gevorgyan stated that all  the issues raised during the discussions will be discussed later with  representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank. At  the same time, he noted that some points of this bill inspire some  concern. Nevertheless, according to the MP, the state duty must be  raised, but to what extent, this is a completely different question.  However, he noted that this should be done differentiation between  banks and exchange offices.

According to the MP from the "My Step" faction Artak Manukyan, the  increase in state duties justifies a substantial increase in the cost  of services. "At the same time, if we raise state fees 60 fold, we  must realize what will happen to the market. So, we must find optimal  solutions to the issues that have accumulated, given the fact that  changes are nevertheless inevitable," the MP concluded.

To note, according to the bill proposed by the government, instead of  the current state duty for pawnshops at 100 thousand drams (about $  205) a bar will be set at 6 million drams (about $ 12.3 thousand),  and for exchange points - 3 million drams (about $ 6.1 thousand)  instead of the current 50 thousand (about $ 102).  As noted in a  message circulated by the organizers of the protest rally, the  adoption of the bill threatens to close more than half of the 140  pawnshops and 200 exchange offices operating throughout the country.   Each pawnshop employs an average of 4-5 employees, with an average  salary of 150 thousand drams. An average of 2-3 people work in  "exchange offices" with an average salary of 100 thousand drams. As a  result, more than 1.300 people are waiting for reductions, and the  state treasury's tax losses will reach 900 million drams (about $ 1.8  million).