Iran Gold Retailers Strike Over Possible Tax Hike

Gold jewelers in different Iranian cities have gone on strike in protest to a possible sales tax increase as the government has ordered registration of all gold transactions.

Over the weekend, the strike spread and transactions in Tehran and several other cities gold market were halted.

Last week, the Iranian National Tax Administration issued a notice, requiring a group of businesses, including gold dealers, to issue electronic invoices to their customers for each transaction beginning December 22.

Gold buyers and sellers were immediately concerned by the announcement, assuming the plan would result in a 25% tax on profits due to government efforts to fill its empty coffers.

Although the Tax Administration announced on Sunday that it has not imposed new taxes and rumors over a "25% tax were not true," the market was far from calm and strikes continued.

Nader Bazrafshan, secretary of the Tehran Jewelry Union, called the Tax Administration's notice "vague" and said that gold dealers are worried that recording the information of every transaction in the system will make them liable to more tax.

Bazrafhsan said that because of concerns over registering transactions, people abstain from buying gold, which has negatively affected the industry even more than it did under Covid.

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi presented his proposed budget to the parliament in early December, which revealed that tax revenues were expected to be twice the government's oil revenues.

According to the Jahan-e-Sanat Daily, the Iranian government is also counting on an "inflation tax" to fund the budget for the next fiscal year which begins on March 21, 2024.