15:16 - 4.12.2019

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December 4, Fineko/abc.az. Some time ago, after the liquidation of some organizations, the merger of the Ministry of Taxes and the State Property Committee into the Ministry of Economy, there appeared an allegation that such a bitter fate also awaits the State Customs Committee. 

Even SCC chair Safar Mehdiyev, who has recently convened a press conference, was also asked a question whether his committee will be liquidated. He, however, neither refuted nor confirmed this allegation. Mehdiyev replied that the abolition of any committee is not within his competence.

So, what is the probability of the abolition of the customs committee?
portal ABC.AZ has applied with this question to expert Ekrem Hasanov.

Hasanov told ABC.AZ that he does not see the need for Azerbaijan in the customs institution as a whole. The expert justified his opinion by the fact that in general the fiscal authorities related to the State Budget, that is, both taxes and customs relate to the Ministry of Finance, since the work of the Finance Ministry is to run the State Budget. 
"Both customs and taxes are funds coming to the State Budget. But our taxes were transferred to the Ministry of Economy. It was expected that customs would also be transferred to the Economy Ministry. The State Property Committee was also transferred to the MoE. The work of the Committee is related to the privatization of state property, and revenues from the management of state property and taxes also relate to this. Logically, the customs should have been transferred to the Economy Ministry, so that all revenues were collected there. It seems to me that the Customs Committee should have been transferred to the MoE for subjective rather than objective reasons. Just a new head was appointed in the Customs Committee, and he was left in this position. But, of course, objectively customs and taxes should be in the same system. And, probably, it will be so in the future within the framework of optimization of structures of state bodies," the expert noted.

By Elmir Murad