Villagers refused to pay AMD 1000: Headman addressed JACES (video)
The situation remains tense in Aygestan village of Ararat region. The Republican Mayor of the community, Sokrat Hovsepyan, has addressed to the Judicial Acts Compulsory Enforcement Service requesting the latter to collect the unpaid land taxes from people. The village headman has filed 77 lawsuits. Mr. Hovsepyan confesses that he has asked the residents to pay AMD 1000 a month. “I shall do my work and shall not receive a reprimand from the governor. Likewise, he will not receive a reprimand from his superiors,” he said. He says the situation is ‘catastrophic’ in the village as no one wanted to pay taxes. “We were unable to collect money before October 1. I paid one million dram in taxes. I cannot pay the salaries of my employees and the staff of the kindergarten. I took 500 000 drams from others to be able to pay the land tax,” he added. Sokrat Hovsepyan says the situation became tense in the village when the other candidate announced that farmers are not required to pay taxes. “My contender used to say, “Are you fools to pay taxes? If I am elected, I shall annul all taxes.”
