The Evaluation the Exemption's Effects on the Value Added Tax Regressiveness in Iran

The value Added Tax system is a modern system that can play an important role in reforming the tax system and financial resources required by the government to perform its heavy duties. But the regressive nature of such taxes has caused the government faces with serious obstacles to achieve one of its important goals, which is inequality reduction and fair income distribution. In order to discount the regressive effect of taxes, generally two basic actions can be identified; First, granting exemptions to those group of goods that has a large share in the low-income household's budget portfolio, and the second, designing a tax system with multiple rates, in which the essential goods are taxed with lower rates and luxury goods used by the high income classes are taxed by the higher tax rates. The second approach, while complicating the tax system, increases the compliance and enforcement costs and this is why the first approach has been adopted in Iran.