Tehran, Iran, July 11
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Tehran province accounts for 53 percent of Iran's total tax revenues.
Iranian MP Hossein Tala, however, said that only 3.7 percent of the tax revenues are allocated to the province in the form of budget, Iran's ILNA News Agency reported on July 10.
He went on to note that Tehran province's share out of the two-percent oil revenues of the country is only 17 billion rials (some $548.3 million based on the exchange rate of USD at the free market).
"The other 30 provinces of the country all together pay for only 47 percent of the country's tax revenues, but their share of the budget is significantly more than Tehran province," he said.
Iran's tax revenues (660 trillion rials or $21.29 billion) account for 34 percent of the country's total budget in the current year, which is 18 percent more than the previous year.
"The residents of Tehran are actually paying the cost of all the constructional projects in the province," he explained, adding that this may give the wrong idea to politicians that the province's budget is enough.
"Tehran province has 41 cities and 780 villages," he added.
"The province's share out of the country's total budget was around 780 billion rials in the previous year, butTehran municipality's budget was around 16 trillion rials," he said, noting that Tehran municipality's budget is provided by the internal tax the city's residents pay.
According to the latest report of the Statistic Center of Iran which covers until March 20, 2010, Tehranprovince's output accounts for 34 percent of the country's total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The figure is around six times more than Isfahan province, which is the second province on the list.
Edited by CN