“The list of 1000 large taxpayers published by the State Revenue Committee does not reflect the real picture of the economy. In order to avoid criticism, the Committee decided to leave the state departmental bodies out of that list,” Nairi Sargsyan, Chirman of the Chamber of Auditors said, in an interview with   Iravaban.net.

According to him, in the past, after assessing the real state of the economy, there was a critical approached the fact that the Ministry of Defense is the 2nd largest taxpayer of the republic.

Changes were made in the Government decision, state departments were removed from the list of 1000 large taxpayers. However, state bodies continue to remain in it: educational centers, the nuclear power plant, community infrastructures.

“In other words, the state provides the money from one pocket to the state bodies, and collects a part of it from the next pocket, about 20 percent, i.e. the income tax,” Nairi Sargsyan says.

The Chairman of the Chamber of Auditors notes that if the 1000 large taxpayers provide 75-85 percent of budget revenues, the first 100 largest taxpayers provide more than half of it. “The structure of taxpayers in Armenia has not changed for years: mining, retail trade, sale of consumer goods or services.

Nairi Sargsyan notes that there are no presumptions that this structure will undergo changes in the next 5-10 years. The specialist notes that if a distinction is made whether the tax paid by state bodies or the real sector of the economy is more “qualitative”, then it is the second one.

In 2021, as well as in 2022 and 2023, the largest taxpayer in Armenia continues to be the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine. Therefore, Azerbaijan’s non-stop “attacks” on Syunik, ZCMC, are not surprising.

“Why are they targeting the mining industry? Because the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan is moving towards its goal much more consistently than Armenia. The enemies also analyze the tax structure and see where they can attack us. It can be seen that the governments of different years in Armenia did not focus on building a new economy at the expense of the added value tax formed from the mining industry and other taxes. If Azerbaijan “occupies” the mining industry, RA will suffer significant losses, being cut off from that vein that feeds the budget. This is a component of their global goals,” Nairi Sargsyan says.