The Iranian regime has put a chokehold on every Iranian to fund its expenses of suppression and terrorism, and they extort the people with various excuses. One of their excuses is to cover the budget deficit through taxation.
The 2024 budget and tax dilemma
One of the reasons for the opposition of the members of the Iranian Majils (Parliament) in the first round of voting on the regime’s budget bill was their fear of the people’s reaction to the increased taxation by the regime, which they perceived as unjust. The state-run Mashregh news wrote on December 20, “The representatives cited high budget deficit, excessive tax burden, and lack of provisions for equalizing retired workers’ salaries as reasons for rejecting the overall bill.”
After a few days, these opportunists justified their position by claiming that there was no other option but to levy taxes on the people. Therefore, the Majlis voted affirmatively on the general aspects of the budget.
The government had acknowledged a decrease in oil revenues compared to the previous year and the need to collect more taxes. According to a December 25 report by the official IRNA news agency, “Oil revenues have decreased by 3.5% with 582 hemmats (each hemmat equals to 10 trillion rials) compared to the 2023 budget law. On the other hand, tax revenues, which represent a significant portion of sustainable income, have grown by 49.8%.”
On December 18, Tabnak newspaper quoted government sources as saying, “The growth of tax revenues based on fixed prices in 2024 followed a similar trend to the years after 2020, and there has been no significant growth in 2021. Tax revenues grew by 14% compared to the previous year, which is 3% higher than the current bill”. Additionally, they acknowledged that “Tax revenues in the years 2021 so far have experienced an annual growth of over 50% (both in approved figures and actual performance).”
Taxing the poor in the 2024 budget bill
Although the government justified that a significant portion of the tax increase is due to inflation, economic experts consider it detrimental to the poor. They argue that a 50% increase in taxes, coupled with an inflation rate of over 50%, would further impoverish the low-income population, even if their wages were to increase by 20%.
On December 18, Donyaye Eghtesad newspaper wrote, “Let’s assume that at the beginning of 2022, an employee’s salary was around 165 million rials. With the approved wage increases in 2023 and 2024, their salary at the end of April 2024 will reach 240 million rials, which is approximately equivalent to 115 million rials in purchasing power in April 2022. This means that without any role in creating inflation, this individual has lost about 50 million rials of their monthly purchasing power and has become poorer as a result. However, according to the 2024 budget, the government intends to collect approximately 16 million rials in taxes from this individual every month. If we assume an optimistic poverty line of around 250 million rials, then in reality, the government is effectively collecting taxes from poverty by doing this.”
On December 20, Mehr News Agency quoted the Director of the Audit Office of the Tax Organization as saying, “From the beginning of this year till middle of December, 5.02 quadrillion rials of taxes have been collected, which by the end of the year should reach 7.48 quadrillion rials according to the budget law.”
Economist Hossein Raghfar says that the government is not willing to increase taxes on state-owned companies. On December 4, ILNA news agency quoted Raghfar as saying, “The government and the Majlis are not willing to impose taxes on these entities or increase taxes on this sector, using the excuse that increasing taxes for these groups would lead to an increase in the prices of their products and take them out of the competitive market.”
He emphasized that in these economic conditions, increasing taxes, especially when the increase in wages is lower than the inflation rate, will worsen people’s livelihoods and make the current situation more critical.
Discontent in the gold market
Government’s extortion has reached such an extent that it is now targeting gold merchants.
On December 28, the state-run Donya-ye Eqtesad newspaper reported, “After the news of imposing taxes on the profits of gold transactions was released, many gold traders expressed their dissatisfaction by refraining from buying and selling. These traders believe that the increase in their assets in terms of Iranian rials, which has occurred due to inflation, is not profit and should not be subject to taxation.”
Since the establishment of the mullahs’ regime, the Iranian people have faced unprecedented hardships in the history of Iran. One example is the extortion and heavy taxation that has impoverished the Iranian population. It is natural that with such a trend, people’s anger will only increase, and they will have no choice but to seek overthrow as a means of liberating themselves from this humiliating situation.