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It is quite sometime now that the design and implementation of a V AThas turned into a debate in the pubic finance in Iran But, as it has always been, the impact of a V AT on inequality is a major concern in making a decision for its implementation. This paper, using the analytical method, intends to make an estimate of the possible impact of a V A T on inequality in Iran on the basis of the five suggested possible scenarios. Using the selected model and national inpuf. output table, it tries to calculate the share of present indirect taxes or future V A T in the prices of the goods and services in each scenario. The results are then compared with household consumption, using the ISIC classifications. By estimating the Engle Curve for each consumed item in the household budget, the cost of the V A T implementation for each ten brackets of the of the household is then calculated Putting the resulting figures in two groups of distributional and tax system equity indicators, reveals the regressively of the tax in all five scenarios. However, measuring the importance of the impact it could be safely concluded that the
inequality variable in Iran would not be significantly affected by the implementation
of a VAT.
JEL Classification: H23, K34.