Finance Minister hails growing tax compliance and public trust in Armenia

Hovhannisyan made the remarks while presenting to parliament a bill approving the annual report on the implementation of Armenia’s 2025 state budget.

“It should be noted with enthusiasm that the culture of voluntarily paying taxes has developed in our country. Citizens of the Republic of Armenia are now confident that the taxes they pay are directed toward expanding and improving the services provided to them,” Hovhannisyan told lawmakers.

The finance minister emphasized that the relationship between the state and citizens is based on the approach that the state should empower people, and people should strengthen the state.

“We act together, guided by the formula: ‘The state should strengthen the person, and the person should strengthen the state.’ And the vote given to us on June 7 is a confirmation of this logic,” Hovhannisyan, a member of the Civil Contract party, said.

According to Hovhannisyan, the state is carrying out institution-building efforts aimed at creating a stable and predictable business environment, protecting investments, ensuring equal competitive conditions, and safeguarding workers’ rights.

The minister noted that funds paid into the state budget through taxes should be directed toward creating public goods and addressing issues in the social, defense, healthcare, education, science, cultural, environmental, and other sectors.

He said that only through the state can a system be created for collecting and spending public resources that ensures a secure environment, defense capabilities, the rule of law, a competitive and business-friendly environment, and other public goods.

Hovhannisyan also stressed that the tax burden should be distributed fairly among different sectors of the economy, types of economic activity, taxation systems, and social groups.

According to the minister, if tax benefits provided by law are applied, they should stem from the government’s economic development priorities, policies for balanced regional development, and the need to address socio-economic challenges.

“There are no privileged groups that can conduct business activities without paying taxes and thereby enter into unequal competition with law-abiding taxpayers,” Hovhannisyan said.

The finance minister added that economic growth over the past five years has been accompanied by an increase in the population’s standard of living.

“The rapid economic growth of the past five years has been accompanied by an improvement in the population’s standard of living, as evidenced by positive trends in the main indicators characterizing living standards,” the minister said.