BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 24
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
The 9-month budget execution report for 2020 shows that the amount of value-added taxes paid by the private sector is 2.79 billion lari ($869.6 million), which is 106 percent ((6 percent) of the adjusted budget plan for 2020, but is 294.6 million lari ($91.8 million) less than in 2019, Trend reports via the National Bank of Georgia (NBG).
The VAT plan for the 12 months of 2020 is 3.74 billion lari ($1.1 billion). For comparison, this amount is 300 million lari ($93.5 million) less than the 4.04 billion lari ($1.2 billion) mobilized in 2019.
Like VAT, the amount mobilized in the budget from the income tax is reduced, which indicates a decrease in the population's salaries.
In the first nine months of 2020, the amount of income tax amounted to 2.22 billion lari ($692 million), which is 133.6 million lari ($41.6 million) less compared to the same period in 2019. In Georgia, the income tax rate is 20 percent, and it is paid by people employed on a contract basis. Another factor influencing the income tax reduction is the exemption of income tax for salaries up to 750 lari ($233.79) for the private sector and the partial exemption of income tax for salaries up to 1,500 lari ($467.58).
Due to the COVID-19 economic crisis, more than 100,000 people receive an average of 200 lari ($62.34) a month in compensation; respectively, these people have lost their income in the form of wages.
The nine-month profit tax performance has increased by 70.3 million lari ($21.9 million) compared to the previous year and amounts to 744.3 million lari ($232.2 million). This is 107.6 percent (7.6 percent) of the 9-month plan for this tax. The government plans to mobilize 840 million lari ($261.8 million) from profit tax by the end of the year.
If revenues continue at the current pace, then the profit tax plan will likely be overstated despite the COVID-19 crisis.
Excise revenue is 1.07 billion lari ($333.5 million), an increase of 80.3 million lari ($25.03 million) annually. The excise tax plan for 2020 is 1.32 billion lari ($411.4 million), which is 140 million lari ($43.6 million) less than 2019.
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