YEREVAN, November 2. /ARKA/. In the first ten months of 2022 some 41.6 billion drams of income tax were refunded to Armenian citizens, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said today, specifying that this figure is 10 more than the amount refunded in 2018.

Speaking at the discussion of the 2023 draft state budget in parliament, Pashinyan touched on income tax reforms, which are of a cornerstone importance having also an important psychological component.

"I would like to note that we not only collect these taxes, but also return them to the citizens of the Republic of Armenia. In this regard, the income tax refund indicator is impressive - in 2018, the government returned 4.7 billion drams of income tax to citizens, and in 2021 - 32.7 billion drams, that is an increase of 595%," the Prime Minister informed.

He noted that the income tax is refunded to citizens who have mortgage loans. They do not pay interest, and the number of beneficiaries of this program is about 25,000.

Pashinyan stressed the importance of the social component: now people can buy apartments on credit, while many citizens used to live on a "gray" salary, which didn't allow them to enjoy social opportunities.

At the same time, he noted that the economic effect of returning the income tax is unclear.

"We have no methodology for calculating what economic output it produces. For example, there is a 14% growth in the construction sector compared to 2021, so we can consider that the returned money is again sent to the economy," stated the Prime Minister.

Earlier, the State Revenue Committee said that the personal income tax rate will drop from 22% in 2021 to 20% in 2023. -0-