Despite the efforts of Iranian regime security entities, the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, and the Gold and Jewelry Union in Iran, the gold market in most cities of Iran continues to be on strike.
Until Sunday, May 12, gold sellers in various cities, including Tehran, are absent from their places of business, and active trade units are not conducting any buying or selling activities.
The continuation of the strike in the gold market comes as in recent days, security apparatuses have attempted to pressure the Gold and Jewelry Union to end this strike.
In this regard, Nader Bazrafshan, the head of the Tehran Gold and Jewelry Union, had stated on Friday, May 10, that the strike of gold-selling units is in protest against the implementation of gold transaction registration in the comprehensive trade system.
Bazrafshan had emphasized that over the past 10 days, numerous meetings have been held between the boards of directors of the unions in Tehran, Mashhad, Shiraz, Yazd, Isfahan, and Tabriz in Tehran with relevant authorities regarding the strike, and the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade has also issued a ministerial order in this regard.
Bazrafshan had also announced that gold sellers have been asked to be present at their workplaces starting from Saturday, May 11, and end the strike. However, this did not happen until the head of the union confirmed in an interview on Saturday with the state-run ISNA news agency that the gold market is still on strike.
The Tabnak website also wrote in this regard: “News from the market indicates that many units are still closed and have rejected the union’s request.”
According to analysts, the order of the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade did not have any new points to persuade the activists of this profession, and gold sellers are still concerned about the government’s next steps regarding property tax.
The order of the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade states that “capital gains tax will not be levied on gold trade units.”
This order also emphasizes that initial inventory registration in the Comprehensive Trade Platform related to personal or capital assets not involved in production and sales will not be required.
However, considering the government’s behavior in the field of property tax over the past two years and the emphasis of officials on the necessity of increasing tax revenues, gold sellers are refraining from registering their information in the Comprehensive Trade Platform.
This issue has also faced a reaction from the Tax Administration Organization, and this organization, far from any expediency, has threatened gold sellers with heavy fines for non-cooperation.
In this regard, the spokesperson of the Tax Administration Organization told the regime’s Khabaronline website that, conditional on gold and currency sales through electronic invoices to authorized exchanges or gold sellers with terminal stores and the registration of electronic invoices, capital gains tax will not be imposed.
According to this report, the regime is seeking to impose new taxes on property, cars, as well as gold and currency, with the enactment of the capital gains tax law. According to the regime’s plan, profits from the purchase and sale of these assets will be subject to tax.
