December 25, 2015
Iranian non-oil exports, which had surged in recent years, are now falling. In the first eight months of the Persian year, non-oil exports were down 10.5 percent, compared to the same period last year.
An official of the Chamber of Commerce says the fault lies with the government’s value added tax (VAT).
Iran’s VAT is now 9 percent, while in other countries the rate is between 3 percent and 4 percent, said Mahmud Tolai, the chairman of the tax, labor and social welfare committee of the Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture.
He said other reasons contributing to the decline are the fall in global commodity prices and regional instability.
The main problem with Tolai’s explanation is that VAT taxes in the European Union actually range from 15 percent to 27 percent, much more than Tolai asserted.