The Impact of Different Trade Liberalization Indicators on Different Tax Bases: A Comparison of Developed and Developing Countries

This study examines the impact of various trade liberalization indicators on total tax revenues and 4 tax bases from 2000 to 2015 between developed and developing WTO member countries. Since trade liberalization is possible to conducted through different means, three indicators of "Trade openness", "Tariff rate" and "Trade freedom" were used to indicate the degree of trade liberalization. The results show that each means of liberalization impacts the tax revenues in different way. The results of estimating equations in developing countries indicate that with any increase in liberalization, the international trade taxes fall, and the domestic taxes, including taxes on goods and services, corporate income taxes, and personal income taxes, rise. As a result, such changes impact the tariff rate more than two other indicators of trade liberalization. However, the results for the developed countries are completely different. Increasing trade liberalization in developed countries will lead to lower tax revenues. The results demonstrate that the impact of trade liberalization on tax revenues varies due to the level of countries’ development.