The erosive effect of digital economy on tax revenue: empirical evidence from urban panels in China

ABSTRACT

This paper analysed the impact of digital economy on tax revenue. By using China’s urban panel data from 2011 to 2021, the empirical results demonstrate that the development of the digital economy has a negative impact on Tax-to-GDP ratio. The underlying reason is that the digital economy has not led to a proportional increase in tax revenue while increasing the tax base. In other words, it reduces the effective tax rate. After considering factors such as endogeneity, this conclusion still holds.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital economy
• tax revenue
• erosive effect
• tax-to-GDP ratio

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• H20
• H21
• H26

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ The cost reduction mentioned here refers to the decrease in marginal cost.

² See in ‘OECD.2015. Addressing the Tax Challenges of the Digital Economy, Action 1–2015 Final Report, OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project’.