Economic Management of a City, Placing Emphasis on the Local Tax and the Effective Variables whereof (The Case of the City of Tehran)

Municipalities، as the main organization for urban management and as the executive power for urban planning and management، to carry out projects and operationalize plans، require income resources accessible via different methods; however، what the current article considers a challenge is the method (s) through which such income is to be provided. In fact، since 1983، following the economic independency of municipalities، in addition to the insufficiency of income resources، they have had to cope with the issue of unsustainable income and economic resources. In other words، the municipalities’ income is provided from the sections which، in long run، have many an adverse effect on different aspects of urban life; besides، such income depends on the new activities of urban economics. The current article، through investigating into the income resources of the municipality of Tehran، aims at determining the extent of sustainability or unsustainability of them over a ten-year period during (2000-2009). The research method lends itself to descriptive-analytic one، emphasizing the use of statistical methods. The results indicate that، despite the efforts the municipality of Tehran has made to appropriately plan for obtaining sustainable income، a major share of the municipality income is provided from such unsustainable resources as construction taxes and the fines due to construction violations. Identifying effectively essential factors in local taxation (the one collected by the municipality)، the article concludes by suggesting an appropriate model for increasing the contribution of such sustainable income to Tehran municipality. Implementing the very model، either in Tehran municipality or even in the other ones، it is argued that، besides an increase in the income resources of the municipality، the issue of sustainable income is taken into account.