March 16, 2018
The Majlis has approved the government’s controversial proposal to increase the exit tax paid at the border, although exempting those going on religious pilgrimages.
The tax is imposed on foreigners and dual nationals as well as Iranian citizens leaving the country.
According to Ali-Asghar Yousefnejad, the spokesman of the Majlis Budget Committee, the tax for religious trips, which is currently 375,000 rials ($8.30) for air travel and 125,000 rials ($2.75) for road travel, will remain unchanged.
Pilgrims going to the Iraqi city of Karbala for Arbaeen, the 40th-day anniversary after the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, will continue to be exempt from the tax. That pilgrimage has become startlingly popular in the last decade and now draws more than a million Iranians a year—more than for the hajj to Mecca.
“The levy for non-religious trips is 750,000 rials ($17) at present, which will increase next year, but it is up to the government to determine the rate,” he said.
Yousefnejad added that a fixed price has not been designated in the budget law for the next year, but the government is expecting to earn 12 trillion rials ($270 million) from the departure tax alone next year.
The budget bill submitted by President Rohani proposed to triple the exit tax for the first trip abroad in a year, boost it 4.4 times for the second trip and six times for subsequent trips.
That raised widespread concerns within the tourism community, which believed it would negatively affect the middle class. It will also hit those who travel for business or educational purposes.
Part of the earnings from the tax will go to developing tourism infrastructure. Currently 100,000 rials from each departure goes to tourism. That will quadruple with the enactment of the law.