An Investigation on the Mutual Effect between Tax Revenue and Economic Growth

Abstract

Purpose - Taxes cover all aspects of society, especially in terms of resource allocation and economic growth. In reality, the tax revenue is often used to measure the quality of a country's economy. The relationship between tax revenue and economic growth has been paid much attention by academic circles. Due to this background, this paper attempts to investigate the mutual effect between tax revenue and economic growth. Research design, data, and Methodology - The annual datum form 1980 to 2017 are employed to conduct an empirical analysis under the vector error correction model. In this paper, the GDP is treated as an independent variable. The tax revenue is treated as a dependent variable. Furthermore, a menu of statistic approaches will be used to testify the mutual effect between tax revenue and economic growth. Results - Via the co-integration test, the results report that the tax revenue has a positive effect on economic growth in the long run. Through the vector error correction estimation, the results also report that the tax revenue also has a positive effect on economic growth in the short run. Conclusions - This paper provides a view that the tax revenue is a kind of a determinant to promote economic growth. Therefore, the China's government should pay much attention to the improvement of tax revenue system so as to maintain a high-speed economic growth.