Reports: Ruling Party at Odds over Tax, Financial Amnesty
The Georgian media speculates that a disagreement, which persists both within the Georgian government and the ruling National Movement party, is hindering the approval of a draft law on tax and financial amnesty.
The proposal envisages amnesty for those persons who evaded paying taxes before January 1, 2004, as well as the legalization of undeclared property.
However, a disagreement still persists over the sphere of people to whom the amnesty should apply. The Georgian daily Rezonansi (the Resonance) and RFE/RL Georgian service reported that there are two groups in the parliamentary majority ? one which favors amnesty applying to a broad range of individuals, while another group thinks that amnesty should not apply to high-level state officials and top decision-makers, claiming this will hamper the anti-corruption campaign.
Georgian media also speculates that disagreement might trigger postponement of approval of the proposal for several months. However, RFE/RL quoted Vice-Speaker of the Parliament Mikheil Machavariani as saying that the agreement will be reached soon and the Parliament will start discussion of the draft sometime in the coming days.
