Government Will Return Every Unjustly Collected Dram: Pashinyan

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated during a briefing with journalists after a cabinet meeting that there will be no deficit recorded in 2024, and that the concept of "covering the 2024 deficit" does not actually exist. He emphasized that such a claim could only be discussed if there were any facts presented which showed that no state programs were executed, but there are no such examples.

This response was in relation to a journalist's question regarding claims from several organizations and economists that the head of the State Revenue Committee was instructed to not only ensure tax revenues for 2025 but also to close the 224 billion dram deficit for 2024, which they believe has led to a tax "terror".

Pashinyan stated, "My instruction to internal bodies is as follows: I say that no taxpayer in the Republic of Armenia should have a reason to say that the government or tax bodies have collected even a single dram more than what should be collected according to the law. And this is very clear." He also added that there should be no mechanisms or practices to evade tax obligations.

According to the Prime Minister, there are entrepreneurs who have reached out, indicating that this principle may be violated. "After receiving a few letters, I instructed Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan to invite the business owners who wrote the letters, as well as our bodies, to understand in a partnership and friendly atmosphere—not at the State Revenue Committee—whether there are indeed injustices, and whether we are doing something wrong towards our entrepreneurs without intending to, because we do not want that," he said, emphasizing that the government respects all taxpayers.

Pashinyan added that in every case where it is determined that an unjust sum has been collected from someone, solutions will be found to return it. "This goes against our perceptions, worldview, and ideology," said the Prime Minister.