Replication Data for: Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 17? An Empirical Investigation of the Effectiveness of Aid Given to Boost Developing Countries’ Tax Revenue and Capacity

Developing economies need to increase their tax revenue. The international community is keenly aware of this challenge and recently dedicated substantial resources and advocacy to assist countries in mobilizing domestic tax revenue as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Considering, however, the extensive research that foreign aid is often ineffective, it is not obvious that this tax assistance will help developing countries raise revenue. In this article, we assess the impact of international assistance programs for tax purposes (i.e., tax aid) on tax revenue generation, indirect taxation reform, and informality across the developing world. We analyze panel data of 137 developing countries between 1972 and 2013 from the AidData, International Centre for Tax and Development, and World Development Indicators, and World Bank Project Data datasets. We also assess survey data from the World Bank's Enterprise Survey and World Values Survey. Our findings indicate that tax aid does not robustly increase the number of taxpayers, especially in the short run. However, tax aid is effective in generating domestic tax revenue in precisely the way international agencies advocate, namely a strong reliance on the value-added tax.

发展中经济体亟需提升其税收收入。国际社会已敏锐意识到这一挑战，近期投入大量资源并开展宣传倡导，以协助各国动员国内税收收入，这也是可持续发展目标（Sustainable Development Goals）的组成部分。然而，鉴于已有大量研究表明对外援助往往成效不佳，因此此类税收援助能否助力发展中经济体提升税收收入尚不明确。本文旨在评估针对税收目的的国际援助项目（即税收援助，tax aid）对全球发展中经济体的税收收入筹集、间接税改革以及非正规经济的影响。我们采用了1972年至2013年间覆盖137个发展中经济体的面板数据，数据来源于AidData、国际税收与发展中心（International Centre for Tax and Development）、世界发展指标（World Development Indicators）以及世界银行项目数据（World Bank Project Data）等数据集。此外，我们还分析了世界银行企业调查（World Bank's Enterprise Survey）与世界价值观调查（World Values Survey）的调研数据。研究结果显示，税收援助并未显著增加纳税人数量，尤其是在短期内。但正如国际机构所倡导的那样，税收援助确实能够有效筹集国内税收收入，具体表现为对增值税（value-added tax）的高度依赖。