Deputy Minister: Voluntary tax payments on agenda in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 23 / Trend A. Akhundov / As of February 22, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Taxes fulfilled its the forecast on tax revenues to the state budget for January-February 2012, Deputy Minister Sahib Alakbarov said at a public discussion on the 'Transparency and application of modern technologies - the basis of effective tax administration' today. "Last year, the Ministry ensured the payment of 5.5 billion manat to the state budget, exceeding the figure of 2010 by 27.5 per cent," he said. "There are very few countries in the world where such growth is demonstrated. Tax revenues in the non-oil sector for the year increased by 22 per cent." He said that the forecasts for this year are even tougher. "During these two months we have already fulfilled our forecast," he said. "We plan to keep this pace up until the end of the year." He said that the ministry's main purpose is to move to a voluntary payment of taxes by the population. "At present, the possibilities are limited," he said. "It is necessary to develop cooperation with NGOs and the population." The official exchange rate is 0.7864 AZN/USD on Feb. 23. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az