Narek Karapetyan: Small businesses to be exempt from taxes in Armenia

Narek Karapetyan, coordinator of the Mer Dzevov (Our Way) movement, said small enterprises, including beauty salons, bakeries and kiosks, should be exempt from taxes, presenting businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan’s economic program on Tuesday.

“In recent years, taxes on small businesses have doubled from 5% to 10%,” Karapetyan announced. “In Armenia, around 69,000 businesses pay turnover tax, yet they contribute only about 2% of total tax revenues. We must exempt small businesses from taxes to foster their growth.”

According to data cited by him, around 3,000 small companies closed in Armenia last year following the tax increase.

Karapetyan stressed the need for safeguards to prevent medium-sized companies from splitting operations to qualify as small businesses.

“If we implement these changes, 2,000 to 3,000 new companies could be created in Armenia each year,” he said.

The Mer Dzevov movement has been launched by Samvel Karapetyan, who is currently under house arrest on charges of calling for the seizure of power in Armenia rejected by his legal team and many experts as politically motivated.