The Government of Armenia decided to importantly mitigate the strategy of universal income declarations in consequence to expanding criticism and confusion around the reforms that were to enter into force on 1 November.
The reform, adopted in 2023, assumed that almost all working citizens of Armenia would gotta electronically declare their income, covering not only salaries, but besides remittances and remittances exceeding $300,000 (about $780). Officials presented this step as a way to increase transparency, improve taxation recovery and better steer social assistance.
However, after months of method delays and social dissatisfaction, the ruling civilian agreement plans to abolish most of the mandatory requirements. According to the proposed changes, persons whose income comes exclusively from officially registered sources will not gotta make their own declarations — they will be prepared automatically by the State Income Committee (SRC).
This decision marks a crucial departure from the first plan to introduce universal income declarations by 2025 — a task that had already moved from 1 May to 1 November due to logistical and method problems.
According to SRC chief Eduard Hakobyan, by the end of September, only about 92,000 people made declarations, a tiny part of the estimated 700,000 citizens affected by the reform. Officials admitted that most Armenians did not have the required electronic identity cards or encountered problems with the state web portal.
This week, a associate of the Babken Tunyan Citizens' Agreement announced that citizens who do not have “invisible” sources of income for the SRC, specified as remittances, donations or interest on savings, would not gotta log in to the declaration system. Parliament is to formally renew the bill in the coming days.
Former Justice Minister Arpine Howhannisjan, presently 1 of the most critical of the character's government, stated that the decision reveals deeper inconsistencies of the reform. In a video released on Tuesday, she warned that citizens with any additional sources of income — including communications exceeding 300,000 drams — would proceed to be obliged to manually update their declarations, otherwise they would be fined.
Howhannisjan besides pointed out that the incentive strategy in the form of cash returns to advance active participation in the programme would only cover those who would fill in the declarations themselves alternatively than those utilizing the automatic system. "Those who hope that taxation services will do anything for them may lose their right to benefit," said Howhannisjan.
A change in government course occurs little than 1 year before the next parliamentary elections in Armenia — which, as the commentators note, is not accidental. Opposition politicians accused Prime Minister Nikola Paszynian of withdrawing from the first plans in fear of losing voter support irritated by the bureaucratic burden and deficiency of transparency of the reform.
When the task was first announced, officials presented the declaration process as a milestone towards a fair taxation strategy and a tool for revealing hidden revenue. Critics, however, questioned from the outset both the feasibility and the political sense of this broad initiative, pointing to mediocre government communication and limited ability to usage digital tools in society.
The draft amendments will most likely rapidly pass through the parliament dominated by the civilian Agreement Party. However, as analysts note, the partial withdrawal from the improvement underlines the government's difficulties in uncovering a balance between transparency objectives and administrative realities — and points tothe expanding sensitivity of the authorities to the discontent of voters before the elections in 2026.
Source: oc-media.org
Study Bulletin: BIS
