Moderating Influence of Corruption on the Relationship between Aggregate Tax Revenue and Economic Development in Nigeria and Ghana

Abstract:

The study examines the moderating influence of corruption on the relationship between aggregate tax revenue and economic development in Nigeria and Ghana. Ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study where country specific data extracted from the annual publications of OECD database on tax revenue in Africa, Central Bank of Nigeria and Transparency International (TI) for the periods 1981 to 2022 were used. The dependent variable was economic development measured with Gross Domestic Product at 2015 Constant price while the independent variable was Aggregate tax revenue. The relationship between the dependent and independent variables was moderated by the presence of corruption measured by Corruption perception index for Nigeria and Ghana. Different econometric techniques were applied in the study while the data was analyzed by means of the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model using E views Version 10. The findings showed that in Nigeria and Ghana, aggregate tax revenue had a positive and significant influence on economic development both short and long run whereas corruption had a negative but significant influence on the relationship between tax revenue and gross domestic product of Nigeria and Ghana. The study therefore recommends among others that the respective governments of Nigeria and Ghana should put in place adequate fiscal measures to ensure that revenue generated from taxes are effectively utilized to develop their economies. They should also see the need to tackle corruption in the process of executing projects by ensuring that activities of bad and corrupt leaders are closely monitored through further strengthening the hands of the anti Graft Agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and ICPC to have the political will to persecute corrupt leaders and managers of public funds.