The Armenian government is very handy at inventing “invisible” but highly efficient ways of collecting huge sums of money from its citizens in a short period of time.
One of the recent examples of this dexterity was the introduction of compulsory car insurance. Car owners had to pay 100 dollars on average on New Year’s eve. And though the insurance companies are run privately, accretion of big sums on bank accounts allowed the government to solve the issue of assets for social payments for a while.
Now compulsory life insurance is already being considered which is the first requirement for getting a loan from a bank.
And now the fresh example. On June 1 amendments to the Code of Administrative Infringements came into force which require that each citizen of the Republic of Armenia who lives outside Armenia for over 6 months will have to inform the diplomatic representation of consulate in written form. Failure to inform will incur a fine of 3000 drams.
The number of citizens living outside Armenia more than 6 months is rather big. 3000 drams is not a big deal for them but the treasury will be filled with liquid assets. How else can the adoption of these amendments be explained?
The government of Armenia should know better that tens of thousands of migrant workers leave Armenia every year, sometimes for over 6 months. It means that almost all the migrant workers will have to pay 7 dollars each. Certainly, it is not a big sum to board the plane and fly to Armenia by the end of the 6th month.
However, there is no doubt that if the “experience is successful”, the fine will grow. The person who pays 7 will agree to pay 70.
The most unpleasant thing about this is the predatory nature of the homeland. Instead of creating conditions to live and work in the homeland the government imposes another tax on people who have to leave Armenia to earn their living. This country looks like a step motherland.
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