A Study on Reassessing Tax and Development Research in Present Context

Abstract

The shortcomings of economic statistics for developing nations, as well as the possibility that bad data have led to inaccurate research findings and bad policy recommendations, are of growing concern. Cross-country tax data provide a striking example, with existing datasets frequently being significantly underreported, analytically imprecise, rife with errors, and glaringly opaque. The International Centre for Tax and Development's new Government Revenue Dataset, which offers a more dependable, transparent, and thorough basis for international research, is introduced in this paper. Initially, this new dataset was used to reevaluate key issues regarding the connections between tax and aid, elections, economic growth, and democratization. Governments receive the money they need from taxes to invest in development, alleviate poverty, and provide public services. It offers a remedy for aid dependency in developing nations and offers the fiscal stability and sustainability required to foster growth. In terms of transparency and fairness, tax system design is also closely related to domestic and international investment choices. Enhancing domestic resource mobilization involves more than just increasing revenue; it also entails creating a tax structure that supports social justice, good governance, inclusiveness, and appropriate income and wealth disparities. The social contract between governments and citizens and the improvement of the state's ability to function effectively both depend on taxes. The taxation system is essential to creating more accountable and effective states because it promotes communication between states and their citizens. Tax administration reforms may spread to other areas of the public sector.