TEHRAN - The Iranian National Tax Administration collected 366 trillion rials (about $8.57 billion) in tax during the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-July 22, 2018), up 10 percent year on year.

According to the administration’s head, Seyed Kamel Taqavinejad, more than 190 trillion rials (over $4.5 billion) was collected as direct taxes and about 175.5 trillion (about $4.17 billion) derived from the tax on goods and services sectors, IRIB reported.

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).

The 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 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 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/MG