TEHRAN- Iran has gained some 810 trillion rials (about $20.95 billion) in tax income since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2016).

At the present time, tax income accounts for 36 percent of the government’s total income and 50 percent of the national annual budget, IRIB quoted National Tax Administration director Kamel Taqavinejad as saying on Monday.

As he said, the government could earn 680 trillion rials (about $17.5 billion) of tax income during the previous Iranian year and the figure is expected to increase up to one quadrillion rials (about $25.8 billion) by the current yearend (March 20, 2017), including the expected 140 trillion rials (about $3.6 billion) of income to be earned from levying tariffs. 

“We expect to earn 90 percent of the predicted income by the present year end,” he added.

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

HJ/MA/MG