Full Length Article

Impact of taxes on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Evidence from Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries

  • Md. Mominur RAHMAN
Expand
  • Department of Business Administration, Northern University Bangladesh, Dhaka, 1230, Bangladesh
*E-mail address: mominurcou@gmail.com (M.M. RAHMAN).

Received date: 2023-02-02

  Revised date: 2023-04-08

  Accepted date: 2023-07-26

  Online published: 2023-10-20

Abstract

Multiple ecological and socioeconomic problems have occurred worldwide, raising the awareness of sustainability. This study aims to examine the impact of taxes on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the context of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. This research used effective average tax (EAT), tax on personal income (TPI), tax on corporate profits (TCP), and tax on goods and services (TGS) as the variables of taxes, and employed secondary data from 38 OECD countries covering 2000-2021. The study also used Breusch-Pagan Lagrange Multiplier (LM), Pesaran Scaled LM, Bias-Corrected Scaled LM, and Pesaran Cross-sectional dependence (CSD) tests to analyze the existence of cross-sectional dependency. Then, we established the stationarity of variables through second-generation panel unit root tests (Cross-sectional Augmented Dickey-Fuller (CADF) and Cross-sectional Im, Pesaran, and Shin (CIPS)), and confirmed the long-run cointegration of the variables by using second-generation panel cointegration test (Westerlund cointegration test). The results showed that EAT, TPI, TCP, and TGS are positively associated with SDGs. However, the change in TPI has a smaller effect on SDGs than the change in EAT or TCP or TGS. The result of panel causality indicated that EAT, TPI, and TGS have a unidirectional causal relationship with SDGs. The study also found that TCP has a bi-directional causal relationship with SDGs. Moreover, the finding indicated that the OECD countries need to focus on tax policies to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This study is based on the theory of optimal taxation (TOT), which suggests that tax systems should be designed to maximize social welfare. Finally, we suggests the importance of taking a comprehensive approach for the managers and policy-makers when analyzing the impact of taxes on SDGs.

Cite this article

Md. Mominur RAHMAN . Impact of taxes on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Evidence from Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries[J]. Regional Sustainability, 2023 , 4(3) : 235 -248 . DOI: 10.1016/j.regsus.2023.07.001

References

[1] Adegboye A., Erin O., Asongu S., 2022. Taxing Africa for Inclusive Human Development: The Mediating Role of Governance Quality. [2023-04-08]. https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/111753/1/MPRA_paper_111753.pdf.
[2] Alavuotunki K., Haapanen M., Pirttil? J., 2019. The effects of the value-added tax on revenue and inequality. J. Dev. Stud. 55(4), 490-508.
[3] Angelopoulos K., Economides G., Kammas P., 2007. Tax-spending policies and economic growth: Theoretical predictions and evidence from the OECD. Eur. J. Polit. Econ. 23(4), 885-902.
[4] Anguelov N., 2017. Lowering the marginal corporate tax rate: Why the debate? Econ. Affa. 37(2), 213-228.
[5] Artiach T., Lee D., Nelson D., et al., 2010. The determinants of corporate sustainability performance. Account. Finance. 50(1), 31-51.
[6] Asmah E.E., Kwaw A.F., Titriku E., 2020. Trade misinvoicing effects on tax revenue in sub-Saharan Africa: The role of tax holidays and regulatory quality. Ann. Public Coop. Econ. 91(4), 649-672.
[7] Barrios S., d’Andria D., Gesualdo M., 2020. Reducing tax compliance costs through corporate tax base harmonization in the European Union. J. Int. Account. Audit. Tax. 41, doi: 10.1016/j.intaccaudtax.2020.100355.
[8] Bartik T.J., 1992. The effects of state and local taxes on economic development: A review of recent research. Econ. Dev. Q. 6(1), 102-111.
[9] Bird R.M., 2013. Taxation and Development: What Have We Learned from Fifty Years of Research? [2023-04-08]. https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/20.500.12413/11255/ICTD_RiB_1_2.11.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
[10] Bird R.M., Martinez-Vazquez J., 2014. Taxation and Development:The Weakest Link? Essays in Honor of Roy Bahl. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 1-102.
[11] Bird R., Davis-Nozemack K., 2018. Tax avoidance as a sustainability problem. J. Bus. Ethics. 151(4), 1009-1025.
[12] Bond S., Eberhardt M., 2013. Accounting for Unobserved Heterogeneity in Panel Time Series Models. [2023-04-08]. https://lezme.github.io/markuseberhardt/BEMC.pdf.
[13] Castro G.á., Camarillo D.B.R., 2014. Determinants of tax revenue in OECD countries over the period 2001-2011. Contaduría y Administración. 59(3), 35-59.
[14] Chan K.H., Lo Agnes W.Y., Mo Phylls L.L., 2015. An empirical analysis of the changes in tax audit focus on international transfer pricing. J. Int. Account. Audit. Tax. 24, 94-104.
[15] Chou C.P., Bentler P.M., 1990. Model modification in covariance structure modeling: A comparison among Likelihood Ratio, Lagrange Multiplier, and Wald Tests. Multivariate Behav. Res. 25(1), 115-136.
[16] Danish, Zhang, J.W., Hassan, S.T., et al., 2020. Toward achieving environmental sustainability target in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries: The role of real income, research and development, and transport infrastructure. Sustain. Dev. 28(1), 83-90.
[17] de Paepe G., Dickinson B., 2014. Tax Revenues as a Motor for Sustainable Development. Development Co-operation Report. [2023-04-08]. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/development/development-co-operation-report-2014/tax-revenues-as-a-motor-for-sustainable-development_dcr-2014-11-en.
[18] Deb B.C., Rahman M.M., Rahman M.S., 2022. The impact of environmental management accounting on environmental and financial performance: Empirical evidence from Bangladesh. J. Account. Organ. Change. 19(3), 420-446.
[19] Diaz-Sarachaga J.M., Jato-Espino D., Castro-Fresno D., 2018. Is the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) index an adequate framework to measure the progress of the 2030 Agenda? Sustain. Dev. 26(6), 663-671.
[20] Dumitrescu E.I., Hurlin C., 2012. Testing for Granger non-causality in heterogeneous panels. Econ. Model. 29(4), 1450-1460.
[21] Faghri A., 2023. Climate change and urban transport sustainability. Curr. Urban Stud. 11(1), 60-71.
[22] Fernando Y., Chukai C., 2018. Value co-creation, goods and service tax (GST) impacts on sustainable logistic performance. Res. Transp. Bus. Manag. 28, 92-102.
[23] Gechert S., Heimberger P., 2022. Do corporate tax cuts boost economic growth? Eur. Econ. Rev. 147, 104157, doi: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2022.104157.
[24] Goss E.P., Phillips J.M., 1999. Do business tax incentives contribute to a divergence in economic growth? Econ. Dev. Q. 13(3), 217-228.
[25] Hadri K., Kurozumi E., 2012. A simple panel stationarity test in the presence of serial correlation and a common factor. Econ. Lett. 115(1), 31-34.
[26] Heimberger P., 2021. Corporate tax competition: A meta-analysis. Eur. J. Political Econ. 69, doi: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2021.102002.
[27] Hulten C.R., Robertson J.W., 1985. Corporate tax policy and economic growth:An analysis of the 1981 and 1982 tax acts. In: Dogramaci, A., Adam, N.R., (eds.). Managerial Issues in Productivity Analysis. Berlin: Springer, 5-48.
[28] Jarboui A., Kachouri M., Riguen R., 2020. Tax avoidance: Do board gender diversity and sustainability performance make a difference? Journal of Financial Crime. 27(4), 1389-1408.
[29] Kaldor N., 1963. Taxation for economic development. J. Mod. Afr. 1(1), 7-23.
[30] Kaldor N., 1965. The role of taxation in economic development. In: Robinson, E.A.G., (ed.). Problems in Economic Development:Proceedings of a Conference held by the International Economic Association. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 170-195.
[31] Kalkuhl M., Fernandez B.M., Schwerhoff G., et al., 2018. Can land taxes foster sustainable development? An assessment of fiscal, distributional and implementation issues. Land Use Pol. 78, 338-352.
[32] Kanbur R., Paukkeri T., Pirttil? J., et al., 2018. Optimal taxation and public provision for poverty reduction. Int. Tax Public Finance. 25(1), 64-98.
[33] Kouam J.C., Asongu S.A., 2022. Effects of taxation on social innovation and implications for achieving sustainable development goals in developing countries: A literature review. Int. J. Innov. Stud. 6(4), 259-275.
[34] Lee Y., Gordon R.H., 2005. Tax structure and economic growth. J. Public Econ. 89(5), 1027-1043.
[35] Marques M., Pinho C., Montenegro T.M., 2019. The effect of international income shifting on the link between real investment and corporate taxation. J. Int. Account. Audit. Tax. 36, 100268, doi: 10.1016/j.intaccaudtax.2019.100268.
[36] Martinez-Vazquez J., Bird R.M., 2014. Sustainable development requires a good tax system. In: Bird, R.M., Martinez-Vazquez, J., (eds.). Taxation and Development:The Weakest Link? Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 1-23.
[37] Mathieu-Bolh N., 2017. Can tax reforms help achieve sustainable development? Resour Energy Econ. 50, 135-163.
[38] McGill G., 2010. The effects of taxation on sustainable development. Local Econ. 25(3), 251-263.
[39] Mirrlees J.A., 1986. The theory of optimal taxation. In: Arrow K.J., Intriligator, M.D., (eds.). Handbook of Mathematical Economics. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1197-1249.
[40] Mosquera-Valderrama I.J., 2019. Tax incentives:From an investment, tax, and sustainable development perspective. In: Chaisse, J., Choukroune, L., Jusoh, S., (eds.). Handbook of International Investment Law and Policy. Singapore: Springer, 1-21.
[41] Myles G.D., 2000. Taxation and Economic Growth. Fisc. Stud. 21(1), 141-168.
[42] Nellen A., Miles M., 2007. Taxes and Sustainability. J. Green Build. 2(4), 57-72.
[43] Nerudová D., Hampel D., Janová J., et al., 2019. Tax system sustainability evaluation: A model for EU countries. Inter Econ. 54(3), 138-141.
[44] Neupane D., Adhikari P., Bhattarai D., et al., 2022. Does climate change affect the yield of the top three cereals and food security in the world? Earth. 3(1), 45-71.
[45] OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), 2022. OECD Tax Database. [2022-04-08]. https://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/tax-database.
[46] Padovano F., Galli E., 2001. Tax rates and economic growth in the OECD countries. Econ. Inq. 39(1), 44-57.
[47] Peterson T., Bair Z., 2022. United States tax rates and economic growth. SAGE Open. 12(3), 1-13.
[48] Rahman M.M., Rahman M.S., Deb B.C., 2021. Impact of corporate governance on tax management: Evidence from DSE listed banks. Bangladesh Economia. 1(1), 18-32.
[49] Rahman M.M., 2022. The effect of taxation on sustainable development goals: evidence from emerging countries. Heliyon. 8(9), doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10512.
[50] Rahman M.M., Halim M.A., 2022. Does the export-to-import ratio affect environmental sustainability? Evidence from BRICS countries. Energy Environ. doi: 10.1177/0958305X221134946.
[51] Rahman M.S., Hasan M.J., Rahman M.M., 2020. Nexus between corporate tax rate and employment growth: Empirical evidence from Bangladesh. The Cost and Management. 48(5), 15-23.
[52] Sachs J., Kroll C., Lafortune G., et al., 2021. Sustainable Development Report 2021. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[53] Samour A., Shahzad U., Mentel G., 2022. Moving toward sustainable development: Assessing the impacts of taxation and banking development on renewable energy in the UAE. Renew. Energ. 200, 706-713.
[54] Sandmo A., 1975. Optimal taxation in the presence of externalities. The Swedish Journal of Economics. 86-98.
[55] Saqib N., 2022. Green energy, non-renewable energy, financial development and economic growth with carbon footprint: heterogeneous panel evidence from cross-country. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istra?ivanja. 35(3), 1-20.
[56] Sarafidis V., Wansbeek T., 2012. Cross-sectional dependence in panel data analysis. Econom. Rev. 31(5), 483-531.
[57] Simionescu M., Albu L.L., 2016. The impact of standard value added tax on economic growth in CEE-5 countries: econometric analysis and simulations. Technol. Econ. Dev. Econ. 22(6), 850-866.
[58] S?rensen P.B., 2007. The theory of optimal taxation: what is the policy relevance? Int. Tax Public Financ. 14, 383-406.
[59] Usman M., Jahanger A., Makhdum M.S.A., et al., 2022. How do financial development, energy consumption, natural resources, and globalization affect Arctic countries’ economic growth and environmental quality? An advanced panel data simulation. Energy. 241, 122515, doi: 10.1016/j.energy.2021.122515.
[60] Walker B., 2019. Facilitating SDGs by Tax System Reform. In: Walker, J., Pekmezovic, A., Walker, G., (eds.). Sustainable Development Goals: Harnessing Business to Achieve the SDGs through Finance, Technology, and Law Reform. New York: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
[61] Wang X., Khurshid A., Qayyum S., et al., 2022. The role of green innovations, environmental policies and carbon taxes in achieving the sustainable development goals of carbon neutrality. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 29(6), 8393-8407.
[62] Wasylenko M., 2019. Taxation and Economic Development: The State of the Economic Literature. London: Taylor and Francis, 309-328.
[63] World Bank, 2019. Taxation and the Sustainable Development Goals. [2022-04-08]. https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/860581538762337418/taxation-and-the-sustainable-development-goals-conference-report.
[64] Weller C.E., 2007. The benefits of progressive taxation in economic development. Rev. Radical. Polit. Econ. 39(3), 368-376.
[65] Westerlund J., Edgerton D.L., 2007. A panel bootstrap cointegration test. Econ. Lett. 97(3), 185-190.
[66] Yang J., Chen M.L., Fu C.Y., et al., 2020. Environmental policy, tax, and the target of sustainable development. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 27(12), 12889-12898.
[67] Yassine N., 2020. A sustainable economic production model: effects of quality and emissions tax from transportation. Ann. Oper. Res. 290(1), 73-94.
[68] Zhang Y.J., Song Y., 2022. Tax rebates, technological innovation and sustainable development: Evidence from Chinese micro-level data. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Change. 176, 121481, doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121481.
Outlines

/