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continue to apply annually to stay in the scheme.
In 2016, the Iranian ​government paid out a whopping​ ​IRR137tn ($3.87bn at the unofficial rate) in cash subsidies under the programme in the first four months of the 2016/2017 Iranian year (March 21–July 21).
It was at that time that Rouhani administration officials started taking people off the list of recipients. Businesspeople earning more than $10,000 annually were among those initially targeted, along with MPs, high-ranking government officials, dentists, doctors and retired army generals on pensions exceeding a certain amount.
The severe devaluation of the Iranian rial over the past two years, by more than 50%, cut the overall subsidies bill for the government.
According to Iran’s budget for this year, one third of the government’s income, or 1,425 trillion rials ($33.9 billion), should come from oil and gas exports.
The budget was based on a forecast crude oil price of $50-$54 per barrel and a US dollar rate of 57,000 rials, meaning the Iranian economy could remain sustainable if exports came to at least 1.5 million bpd.
EU officials also estimate Iran needs to sell 1.5 million bpd to keep its economy afloat. A drop below 1 million bpd could bring hardship and economic crisis.
6.1.1​ Budget dynamics - tax issues, revenues
Officials targeting Iranian rial “billionaires” who’ve never filed a tax return
Iran’s tax authorities have said that there are at least 300,000 Iranian rial (IRR) “billionaires” who have no tax file and have never filed a tax return. The director of the National Tax Administration (NTA), Omid Ali-Parsa, told Tehran’s Financial Tribune that the tax authorities have now brought these massive tax evaders into focus and are chasing down their assets and investigating their accounts in the pursuit of back taxes.
The previously ‘forgotten’ tax office was in 2015 given sweeping new powers to investigate the bank accounts of all perceived tax evaders as well as those of their kin. The move caused a certain amount of panic among Iranian business people at the time but officials are yet to make heavy use of the beefed-up powers.
In an interview with state broadcaster IRIB, Ali-Parsa said that the targeted rial “billionaires” “in fact... have no tax records at NTA”.
27​ IRAN Country Report June 2020 www.intellinews.com