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The purpose of the drafts is to revise the excise tax rates for products subject to excise tax: the RA Deputy Minister of Finance Arman Poghosyan said, presenting the legislative package on Making Amendments to the Tax Code of the Republic of Armenia and on Making Addenda to the Code of the Republic of Armenia on Administrative Offenses for debate in the first reading at the NA sitting on June 13.

According to the rationale of the drafts, the problem is that the period to annually review the excise tax rates set for the four years effective from 1 January 2020, expires on 31 December 2023.

In 2019, the excise tax rates set on the basis of the current indicators have not been revised since 2020, whereas the prices of goods have significantly changed.

The package proposes to re-establish excise tax rates for the period up to 31 December 2026. It is proposed to increase the rates of tobacco products by 10% every year, the rates of strong alcoholic beverages by another 10% rate and other products by an adjustment factor of 8% instead of 3%, as recent observations have shown that the average inflation is more than 3%.

Arman Poghosyan also informed that during the debates held in the Committee, an important proposal was made by the deputy Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs Babken Tunyan in the sense that it is necessary to consider the excise tax rates set for fruit and berry vodkas with other raw materials, in particular, on approximating excise tax rates for vodkas made with wheat raw materials. The Deputy Minister noted that the deputy’s observation was reflected in the package, as a result of which it is proposed to equalize the above rates.

Hovik Aghazaryan presented the endorsement of the NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs.

Babken Tunyan spoke on behalf of the NA Civil Contract Faction, touching upon the observation of his colleague Arsen Torosyan, that it is necessary to increase the prices of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages. In this regard, Babken Tunyan mentioned that the fight against smoking could have been helped by, for example, a sharp increase in the price of cigarettes. The deputy noted that he is not against the reduction of smoking, but it is necessary to take well-considered steps, which should not be perceived by the public as steps aimed at collecting additional money from the population.