Zurabyan promises to reduce property taxes if elected

ArmInfo.Levon Zurabyan, the prime ministerial candidate for the Armenian National Congress (ANC), has promised a significant reduction in property taxes across Armenia should his party come to power in the upcoming June 2026 parliamentary elections.  In a statement posted on his Facebook page,  Zurabyan—representing the party of Armenia's first president, Levon Ter-Petrosyan—outlined a plan to specifically lower taxes on land plots and properties used for rental or commercial activities.

According to him, current property tax rates cannot be described as  anything other than state-sponsored robbery. "Therefore, the approach  of the Armenian National Congress is the following: tax policy should  stimulate economic activity, rather than oppress people," Zurabyan  concluded.

Recall, starting January 1, 2021, Armenian residents began paying  significantly higher property taxes due to a change in the  calculation procedure: the tax is now calculated based on a cadastral  value approximate to the market value. Furthermore, as of January 1,  2021, property taxes became mandatory for all property owners,  regardless of the property value. Previously, owners of properties  valued at up to 3 million drams (over $6,000) were exempt from taxes.  Additionally, whereas land plots and buildings were previously  assessed separately (buildings were subject to property tax, and  plots to land tax), a single property tax is now levied.

The Armenian government previously announced that the introduction of  this tax innovation would be carried out in stages over a six-year  period. The graduated payment schedule was established as follows:   2021: 25% of the calculated tax, 2022: 30%, 2023: 35%, 2024: 50%,  2025: 75% and 2026 onwards: 100% .

 It was noted that as a result, the potential for real estate tax  collection will increase by an average of 4.3 times. According to the  authorities, collections will increase from the initial 9 billion  drams to 40 billion drams in the fourth year of the new tax system's  implementation, and from 2026, when the tax rate is fully  implemented, the fiscal effect will amount to 37-38 billion drams  annually. It was also reported that the Cadastre Committee will  review real estate prices in Armenia at least once every two years to  determine the real estate tax rate for a given property. Meanwhile,  in September 2024, Suren Tovmasyan announced that a political  decision had been made not to revise the cadastral values, which are  close to market values and are intended to be used for tax purposes,  at this stage. According to Tovmasyan, despite the rise in real  estate prices after 2021, and despite the requirement for a  revaluation in 2023, which would have become the new tax base as  early as 2024, the authorities decided to take a pause. He then  stated that a new revaluation of real estate, necessary for  determining the tax base, would likely be conducted by 2026.