Video: "A $8,000 Car Requires a $15-20,000 Deposit." Protest in Front of the State Revenue Committee

A group of drivers held a peaceful protest today, August 28, in front of the State Revenue Committee, demanding the halt of the adoption of a law currently under discussion. According to the draft law, Armenian citizens and dual citizens driving vehicles with Georgian license plates must pay a deposit equivalent to the entire customs clearance amount when entering Armenia, which can sometimes amount to double or more of the vehicle's value.

One of the protesters noted that under the new draft, the entire customs deposit amount must be paid up front, to be refunded upon leaving the country. “The problem is that people bring in an $8,000 car, and against that, they have to pay a deposit of $15,000 to $20,000, which makes the process pointless. In other words, someone who has that much money to leave as a deposit will prefer to buy a newer model car from Armenia instead. If this law is adopted, about 10,000 people will be forced to sell their cars and buy vehicles with Armenian license plates. And selling will be a problem because a car bought in Georgia for $8,000 will sell here for $4,000 to $5,000. Because if it becomes known in Georgia what is happening in Armenia, naturally, the prices will fall. And if someone sells their car cheaply, they won’t be able to buy a decent car here. What it amounts to is that a person’s 2015 model car will automatically become a 2006 model car.

There is a stereotype among the public that it’s good for this law to be adopted because they say, ‘Why shouldn’t they pay property tax? Why should they be able to buy cheaper cars than we do?’ In reality, we do pay. For example, if my car had Armenian plates, I would pay 30,000 drams in property tax; now I pay 260,000 drams annually to drive a Georgian-plated car in Armenia. And if this law is adopted, I will also have to leave a deposit of another 15,000 drams. We want the law to remain as it is now. Right now it’s 4 percent, which is still high; before the New Year, it was 2 percent, and I was paying not 260,000 drams but 130,000 drams for driving with Georgian plates. Now importing cars with Georgian plates has become pointless,” he stated.