Parliament approved with its third and final hearing on July 2 a draft amendment to the tax code, envisaging writing off tax debt of television stations accumulated before March 1, 2010.

The initial draft envisaged writing off the debt in unpaid taxes accumulated by the time of legislature’s enforcement.

According to the government, as a result of the amnesty total of GEL 36 million has been written off the television stations.

The government, however, does not give a breakdown of amount of unpaid taxes per individual television station, citing article 122 of the tax code according to which such information is a commercial secret of a company.

There are about three dozen of television stations, including eight based in the capital Tbilisi including the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB).

It is believed that about GEL 2 million out of total GEL 36 million is a share of provincial television stations. Tbilisi-based Maestro TV and Kavkasia TV said they owe nothing to the state in unpaid taxes.

GPB reportedly had about GEL 9 million of tax debt. What is the share of two leading television stations, Imedi and Rustavi 2, remains unclear.