YEREVAN. - Car import to Armenia should generally be exempted from VAT, Chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Economic Affairs, Vardan Ayvazyan, stated in the parliament Monday at the committee session on the 2015 state budget execution.
If these taxes remain, the state will see them only on the paper, but not in the treasury: once people here see that the cars in Russia are even thousand dollar cheaper, everyone will go there for those cars.
“And you, on the contrary, exempt the tax, and let the Russians come to us – both for Mercedes and Range Rovers. And why not, if they see they have a tax and we don’t?” Ayvazyan said.
He recalled the example of Georgia, which once lowered the customs clearance and thus became the center of re-export of cars to Armenia and Azerbaijan, and even Kazakhstan, Ayvazyan added.
“Customs clearance in Russia is 22 percent - actually 15 percent as adjusted to ruble rate. So let’s make it 12 percent [here].”
And you retain the customs clearance at 32 percent setting a 22 bln AMD duty collection plan. You won’t gather even 18 thereby. And then you will not be able to gather even 10,” Ayvazyan stated.
Responding to this, Deputy Chairman of Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC), Armen Alaverdyan, noted that if the tax is exempted, Armenia will become a cemetery of old cars.
To this Ayvazyan opposed: “We will leave environmental fees for old cars, putting 10 percent discount on the new ones. And in that case there will be much import.”