TEHRAN- Iran has earned 1.4 quadrillion rials (about $39.525 billion) income from collecting value added taxes as well as duties since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20), ISNA quoted Kamel Taqavinejad, the head of Iranian National Tax Administration (INTA), as saying on Tuesday.

At the time being, tax incomes account for seven percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and also pay 50 percent of the government’s expenses, the official announced.

Iran’s direct tax income reached 275 trillion rials (about $7.77 billion) in the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-July 21), ISNA quoted Taqavinejad as saying on Sunday.

According to the official, the raised amount registers a 29 percent increase, compared to the collected tax income in the same period last year.

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

MA/MG