YEREVAN. - By writing off citizens’ tax debts, the government legitimizes electoral bribery, head of the Armenian ARF Dashnaktsutyun parliament group Vahan Hovhannisyan announced on Monday.

The overall amount of land and property taxes totals to AMD 43.8 billion ($110 million). It is impossible to collect those taxes due to citizens’ social condition and also because many taxpayers live and work outside Armenia, insists the government.

At the same time, Hovhannisyan pointed out that the government proposed the bill on tax amnesty in the year of parliamentary elections, it could have not hurt to accept that bill earlier. Earlier Armenian oppositional Heritage party member Larisa Alaverdyan noted that if the government was to accept that bill earlier, ‘the voters might forget about it’ now.