GURGEN ARSENYAN’S TAX BURDEN IS RELIEVED

Lragir.am
24 May 06

On May 23 the National Assembly of Armenia voted down the bill on a
cut in the lump-sum tax on imports of cigars to Armenia. The bill,
which was adopted on the first reading, was introduced by Member
of Parliament Mnatsakan Petrosyan, United Labor Party. The address
of this legislative action was not accidental because the import of
cigars to Armenia is the business of the leader of the United Labor
Party Gurgen Arsenyan. The bill provides for a cut in the lump-sum
tax from 1.5 million drams per 1000 cigars to 550 thousand drams.

Obviously, Gurgen Arsenyan took a legislative action on tax allowances
for himself, which is approved by the majority of the parliament,
at least on the first reading.

Most probably, this is part of the recent deal between the United
Labor Party and the government. The government guarantees softer
conditions on the import of cigars, and Arsenyan agrees to vote for
the legislative actions of the government, somehow filling in the gap
in the coalition. Of course, in return for this the United Labor Party
has also been granted the posts of two deputy governors, one deputy
minister and one minister, but Gurgen Arsenyan apparently knows that
government posts are not stable, whereas he will be importing cigars
for a longer period, having the guarantee of the law. The evidence to
the reliance of Gurgen Arsenyan on import of cigars is the building
in the park in front of the conservatoire, which is said to become a
Cigar Club, reported to belong to Gurgen Arsenyan. In this context,
it is possible that besides arrangements with the government and
government’s instructions the members of parliament had a more
serious motive to vote for more convenient conditions on the import
of cigars. The members of parliament have probably heard about the
Cigar Club, and they are probably hopeful to get an invitation to
the opening night and even try free and quality cigars. Besides,
they probably also expect that with lowers costs on import Gurgen
Arsenyan will sell cigars at a cheaper price, and they will smoke
a good deal of cigars. And we may be sure that he will do, because
Gurgen Arsenyan has already announced once that he is ashamed of
getting excess profit. Although it is also possible that this feeling
has become habitual for Arsenyan, and it may not force him to lower
the price of this product along with the cut in tax on this product.