DUSHANBE, December 10, 2009, Asia-Plus — The head of the department for protection of entrepreneurs’ rights within the State Committee for Investments and State-owned Property Management (GoKomInvest), Sarvar Kholiqov, considers that imperfect tax legislation of the country provides a breeding ground for corruption.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Kholiqov said that the country’s tax code forced entrepreneurs to give bribe to officers of the inspection bodies.
According to him, many poorly defined points of the tax legislation are one of reasons for slow development of entrepreneurship and decreasing inflow of investments.
“Tax collection mechanisms are designed so that entrepreneurs try to evade some types of taxes, providing a breeding ground for spread of corruption in the country,” said Kholiqov, “To evade these types of taxes, entrepreneurs usually pay bribes to inspection officers.”
He added that officials pointed to the necessity of raising tax rates, claiming that it would lead to increase in budget receipts. “However, this is not expedient, because rise in tax rates will automatically result in corruption level increasing in the country,” the GosKomInvest official noted.
