Parliament passes controversial bill on migrant workers' income tax

PanARMENIAN.Net - At an extraordinary session today (May 7) Armenia’s National Assembly has passed in the second and final reading a controversial bill on amending the laws on income and profit taxes that require thousands of Armenians working abroad to pay taxes at home, ARKA reports.

The amount of income tax the government will levy from migrant workers is 13 percent. The income tax rate for workers in Armenia is 24 percent.

The controversial bill was backed by 68 lawmakers, 14 voted against it and 17 abstained from voting.

According to Deputy Finance Minister Vakhtang Mirumyan, the government expects the revised law to give a boost to its tax revenue. He said the law will also serve as an incentive for business owners to register Armenian citizens employed abroad in their home country.

Mirumyan noted that the law will apply only to companies that have government-approved investment programs.

The bill was criticized by some opposition lawmakers, who argue that it will spur further emigration and contribute to creation of monopolies.

On March 3, the Armenian parliament passed amendments to the law on income tax that has cut tenfold the size of profit tax (to 2%) for large domestic companies with annual exports of least 50 billion drams. To be eligible, these companies must have government-approved export boosting programs.