Unprecedented Number of Businesses Closed in Armenia: Tadevos Avetisyan

Following the tax changes that came into effect in 2025, what we objectively forecasted and warned about has become a reality: small and micro businesses are feeling uneasy. This was stated by Tadevos Avetisyan, a member of the National Assembly of Armenia from the "Armenia" faction and an economist, in an interview with Tert.am.

“The significant increase in the tax burden for small and medium-sized businesses has led to an unprecedented number of business closures in Armenia. Many SMEs, including legal entities providing professional services and individual entrepreneurs, small manufacturers, beauty salons, and others, have ceased operations. Some, presumably, are conducting their activities in the shadow economy,” he noted.

According to Avetisyan, numerous economic entities, where thousands of people were employed, are now facing severe consequences. As a result, not only has the economic activity of small businesses been impacted, but also the ordinary citizens working in these organizations are affected. He assessed that this situation has delivered a significant social blow to the sector.

“When we say that the policy pursued by this government has a distinctly anti-social nature, we mean this specifically. This means that the blow is directed at those economic operators who, through their work, primarily solve social issues for themselves and thousands of employees,” added Avetisyan.

He also mentioned that it turns out that “in the first phase, certain additional taxes were collected from this sector.” However, according to the economist, this is expected to have a short-term character because the closure of businesses means that no matter how much you raise taxes, if that business closes or goes underground, the taxes will decline after a while.

“Such tax policy leads to reconfiguration. By oppressing and then encouraging small businesses, they are trying to shift that area towards large and super-large businesses,” the economist asserted. Avetisyan emphasized that the double tax burden is a fact that has objectively had irreversible consequences for many economic entities.