No Agenda to Penalize Citizens for Not Receiving VAT Receipts, Babken Tunyan

No agenda exists to penalize citizens for not receiving VAT receipts. This was stated by Babken Tunyan, a member of the 'My Step' faction in the National Assembly, on his Facebook page.

“Dear friends, since I have already received several calls about this issue this morning, and there have also been publications on Facebook, I want to clarify here immediately. There is no agenda to penalize citizens for not receiving VAT receipts. Such a proposal was voiced at the end of August during discussions in the National Assembly regarding the budgetary programs while discussing the budget of the State Revenue Committee. Moreover, the proposal was made publicly in the presence of MPs from all factions and journalists. Therefore, it should not be presented as a great revelation,” he wrote.

Responding to that proposal, both I and Artak Manukyan, as well as several MPs participating in the sessions of the economic, financial, and budgetary committees, have stated that we are against such a proposal, as tax collection is a function of the state, not the citizen. Moreover, the administration of it is problematic.

Regardless of personal opinions on a specific idea or proposal, every MP has the right to express their views and present initiatives on any issue. However, the decision is made first through committee discussion and then through evaluation and voting in a plenary session of the National Assembly.

Therefore, I ask you not to artificially escalate tensions and to remember the importance of respect and ethics even when criticizing,” he wrote.