VIDEO: ‘So what, people haven’t suddenly caught fire for having a painting at home,’ Arsenyan with 533 million worth of paintings tells Tunyans

When presenting an important project, do not bring the rationale of opposing different social groups in society. This was stated today, on December 6, during the discussion of the draft law making amendments and additions to the Tax Code in the National Assembly, which proposes the introduction of a universal declaration institute, addressed to the ruling party MP Babken Tunyans, by the member of the same faction, Gurgen Arsenyan.

“All groups in the state have their important roles. I believe this law’s adoption should serve other purposes. The ideology of social justice, it is true, is attractive, but it is not effective. Social justice is not built by redistributing wealth; the best solution for social justice is to create wealth, to strengthen the poor, not to impoverish the rich,” he said.

In response, Tunyans stated, “If we are implementing social policy, there should also be clear criteria. When I say that one person has a painting worth tens of thousands of dollars at home, and another does not, it does not mean that one is a good person and the other is bad. It means that if the state is implementing social policy, it should do so in a targeted way. For example, during COVID, we provided aid in the form of compensation for electricity, and later it turned out that dollar millionaires also received that aid.”

The comparison regarding the expensive painting did not sit well with Gurgen Arsenyan since he himself has valuable paintings at home, and he remarked, “Forget about those paintings hanging on the wall that have been given to someone as a gift, and later appreciated. That’s a nice example, but it does not reflect the issue that concerns our society today. I am glad that Saryan's paintings are worth a lot, and there are other artists whose paintings are also valuable. So what, people haven’t suddenly caught fire for having a painting at home,” Arsenyan said.

Gurgen Arsenyan's ‘complaint’ is understandable, as according to the 2021 asset, income, interests, and expense declaration, he possesses 16 units of valuable property, three of which are a collection of paintings. The value of only three of Arsenyan's paintings is approximately 533 million drams. Recall that Hetq reported that according to the 2021 declaration, Arsenyan owns 19 paintings, with a total value of 532 million 900 thousand drams. The value of Arsenyan's least expensive painting was recorded at 10 million drams.