Does ICT Penetration Enhance Tax Revenue?: Panel Evidence

In this study, we explore the impact of ICT penetration on tax revenue. We test the hypothesis that ICT penetration contributes to increase in tax revenue by examining an unbalanced panel data set including the period 1990 to 2013 and using four ICT penetration indicators and three tax revenue indicators. Our largest sample includes 157 countries. We identified highly statistically significant positive correlation between ICT penetration and tax revenue by using univariate and multivariate time effect models. This finding is statistically significant and valid for four ICT penetration indicators and three tax revenue indicators. Our results suggest that ICT penetration increases tax revenue across countries between 1990 and 2013, controlling for other factors that may contribute to increase in tax revenue.