Over the past two decades, the tax system has made significant efforts to increase revenues. At the forefront of these efforts was the establishment of the Value Added Tax (VAT), which today constitutes nearly 30% of the government’s tax revenues. However, during this same period, tax revenues have not increased as expected. This presents a puzzle: why have the efforts not yielded results? Or more specifically, where has the VAT gone? To provide an answer, this research begins by examining the components of tax revenues. In this section, eighteen tax bases are analyzed individually, and the historical trend of each base is evaluated. Then, the research gradually zooms out to macroeconomic concepts to address the initial question. As a result of the analysis, it appears this issue stems from three root causes. First, between 2005 and 2009 (1384 to 1388), 5% of the value of oil produced was calculated as the performance tax of the National Iranian Oil Company; whereas afterward, oil no longer impacted tax revenues. Thus, this is merely a difference in accounting conventions. Second, mandatory pricing has seriously disrupted some tax bases. Specifically, due to the stabilization of the official exchange rate, import taxes and their associated VAT have decreased. This issue has also affected the sales tax on petroleum products. Finally, in the mid-2010s, extensive tax exemptions were granted to companies, which halved the tax revenues from non-governmental companies within four years. Therefore, collectively, these three factors seem to partially answer the research question.
. (2025). Review of Iran’s Tax Revenue Trends Over the Past Two Decades. (e21186). Reports, 33(9), e21186 doi: 10.22034/report.mrc.2025.1404.33.9.21186
MLA
. "Review of Iran’s Tax Revenue Trends Over the Past Two Decades" .e21186 , Reports, 33, 9, 2025, e21186. doi: 10.22034/report.mrc.2025.1404.33.9.21186
HARVARD
. (2025). 'Review of Iran’s Tax Revenue Trends Over the Past Two Decades', Reports, 33(9), e21186. doi: 10.22034/report.mrc.2025.1404.33.9.21186
CHICAGO
, "Review of Iran’s Tax Revenue Trends Over the Past Two Decades," Reports, 33 9 (2025): e21186, doi: 10.22034/report.mrc.2025.1404.33.9.21186
VANCOUVER
. Review of Iran’s Tax Revenue Trends Over the Past Two Decades. Reports. 2025;33(9):e21186 (In Persian). doi: 10.22034/report.mrc.2025.1404.33.9.21186