Archival photo of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and U.S. President Richard Nixon
BY STEPAN S. KHZRTIAN, ESQ
When was the last time you licensed out your song or book? Or sold your trademarked design or patented invention? Or performed lighting fixtures or air conditioning installation work?
Or how about the last time you received interest payments for financing cross-border trade? Or earned income from operating or selling airplanes or ships internationally? Or received reinsurance premiums?
Ok, now… when was the last time you transacted on any of the above with someone living outside of the United States? Say, someone from the post-Soviet area… Armenia, anyone?
Running the risk of drastically decimating the readership of this op-ed with each additional question, I should better stop here.
International law expert Rufus Rhodes, Esq. with the author, Stepan S. Khzrtia
You see, the highly singular items of income listed above make up a very large part of a 1973 accord between the U.S. and USSR governments on waiving their own taxes for residents of the other country, in an effort to avoid double taxation. A noble cause, indeed. However, this antiquated tax treaty has since outlived its Soviet co-author and has instead found a foster home in U.S.-Armenia relations, with the U.S. insisting on its validity and Armenia renouncing it.
Until recently, when asked about replacing the 1973 double tax treaty with a new one between U.S. and Armenia, the position of the U.S. government has been brutally straightforward: negotiating a new tax treaty is a “very resource-intensive processâ€
