TEHRAN - The Iranian National Tax Administration (INTA) collected 360 trillion rials (about $8.57 billion) in tax during the first four months of the current Iranian year (March 21-July 22, 2018).

According to INTA’s deputy head, Nader Jannati, the target figure for the tax revenue during the mentioned period was 470 trillion rials but INTA couldn’t reach that goal.

Based on the latest data released by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), the country’s tax income rose 14.1 percent during the last Iranian calendar year (March 2017- March 2018) to reach 1.15 quadrillion rials (about $27.3 billion).

Iranian government earns budget from various sources including the revenues and offering capital assets and divesting financial assets to the private sector, the report said.

According to Head of National Tax Administration Kamel Taqavinejad, the share of tax revenues in Iran’s gross domestic product (GDP) has reached eight percent.

As planned, the figure should reach 11 percent by the end of the country’s Six Five-Year National Development Plan (March 2021).

President Hassan Rouhani’s economic strategy is to significantly reduce the government’s dependency on oil and instead collect tax more systematically.

EF/MA