Deputy minister downplays concerns that imposition of additional taxes would increase social burden
Deputy minister downplays concerns that imposition of additional taxes would increase social burdenARKA, 22.02.2010
A deputy territorial management minister downplayed Friday popular concerns that introduction of additional taxes would only increase the social burden.
Earlier the government sent to parliament a package of bills on making changes to the laws on taxes, budget system and local government, calling for introduction of a long set of additional taxes, which the government said should be collected by local authorities.
The deputy minister Vache Terterian said even if the package is approved by the parliament, the bulk of the proposed taxes will not be imposed immediately.
In his words, the idea behind the package is to try to vest local governments with effective administration tools which would help the central government to more effectively supervise their performance.
He said the proposed package is designed to help improve collection of some local taxes, particularly, land and property taxes.
According to Terterian, the other proposed taxes are not mandatory and each community will be free to choose whether to levy them or not. He said special laws will be passed for each of the proposed tax, which include taxes on property, land, hotel, sales, unfinished construction, uncultivated land, advertising, car parking . The parliament is expected to vote on the proposed bills on February 22.
