Tax Revenues Fall by 9.2%

In the first quarter of the year the Ministry of Taxes collected 1.6 billion manat, which is 9.2% less than in the same period in 2014.

The Ministry of Taxes said tax revenues from the non-oil sector of the economy in the three months amounted to 1 billion 55.7 thousand AZN, i.e. 78.5 million manat or 8% more than in the same period last year. The share of non-oil sector in the structure of tax revenues was 66%, which is 10.6% higher than in the same period the previous year.

Note that the day before the Ministry of Finance circulated a prompt message on the state budget, according to which the Ministry of Taxes provided the budget with 1 billion 594,800,000 manat, of which 1 billion 51.6 million AZN was the contribution of the non-oil sector. Thus, there is a slight discrepancy between the reports of the Ministry of Taxes and the Ministry of Finance.

The economist Rovshan Agayev does not believe satisfactory the volume of growth of tax revenues from the oil sector. "As you know, this year the government tightened regime for certain types of taxes. Operational control of the business entities is enhanced through site inspections and raids. However, despite the government's claims about the development of the private sector, the tax return is not so high," the expert said.

Note that the shadow economy in Azerbaijan continues to remain high. Statistical data on volumes of production of many food and non-food goods turnover hospitality and catering, etc. give reason to assume that the potential tax collection is not realized properly. Many entrepreneurs claim that their actual tax burden is more than the funds listed in the state budget. -----08B