Protest Over Taxes: Small traders demand reply, threaten to go on strike

News | 29.01.15 | 14:11

Alina Nikoghosyan
ArmeniaNow intern

Hundreds of representatives of small or medium companies, including
market traders, demanded an ultimate answer to their demands as they
continued their protests in front of the government building on
Thursday.

The traders demanded that planned controversial changes in the sales
tax law be scrapped and threatened to go on strike unless the demand
is met.

The law that actually envisages the reduction of the sales tax for
small enterprises from 3.5 to 1 percent, but implies stricter rules
for the submission of sales-related documentation to tax authorities
originally was to have been enforced still on November 1, 2014.

However, after a series of protests staged by small business owners,
including hundreds of workers of Yerevan fairs, the government decided
to postpone the application of the law until February 1, 2015.

Small traders insist that they want to continue to work according to
the current rules as the new law, which the government insists is
beneficial for small businesses, adds an extra amount of paperwork.

They also claim that the law uses small companies as a tool in the
government’s fight against tax evasions by larger companies – an
unacceptable practice, in their view.

Today the situation in front of the government building was tense
again; some traders came from the provinces to join the protests in
Yerevan. According to the protesters, if their demands are not met,
they will demand Finance Minister Gagik Khachatryan’s resignation.

The demonstrators threatened that if the government does not respond
to them they will stop paying taxes from February 1 and will go on
“nationwide” strike. “If they do not listen to us with their ears,
they will have to listen to us with their pockets,” one of the
protesters said.

“Small and medium-sized businesses should not be pitted against large
companies in an attempt to clamp down on tax evasion by the latter.
Here again the small companies will suffer because the large companies
have more power to pressure them,” economist Vilen Khachatryan told
reporters on Thursday, addressing the issue.

According to the economist, possible compromises of the government
will depend on the government’s disposition and the magnitude of the
protests.