During its March 21 session, the Armenian government disapproved of the legislative initiative of deputies of the Prosperous Armenia Party by which they propose to grant a real estate tax privilege to villagers whose agricultural lands, crofts and gardens have been damaged at least 50% due to natural and climatic disasters (hailstorm, drought, frostbite, etc.).

The issue was presented by Minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan, who stated that he proposed to leave the article of the existing law unchanged.

“In practice, this tool is not significant compared to the damages that a villager might have during a disaster. It may entail problems with administration. Besides that, it distorts the logic of property taxes. What is particularly problematic is the issue of lands adjoining houses,” Janjughazyan said, adding that the amounts of compensation that the government used to grant to villagers in the previous years were greater than the funds received for exemption from property tax.