“We have tax defaulters that own a lot of property and lands, and it is their defaults that from tax arrears,” Armenian Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration Vache Terteryan told journalists February 5. Armenian communities have accumulated a total of 12.1 billion AMD land tax arrears, the property tax arrears totaling 17 billion AMD.

It is noteworthy that the budget revenues of all the Armenian communities totaled 83.8 billion AMD in 2010.

However, Mr. Tetreryan did not name the property owners that accumulate tax arrears. According to him, the communities will not provide this information as it is a commercial secret.

The communities have been entitled to file lawsuits against the defaulters. In case the defaulters fail to pay off within 183 days, they can be declared bankrupt by law.

According to Terteryan, numerous such lawsuits have been filed over the recent years.