The role of religion on tax revenue: A global religious perspective

The obligation of the government to provide public services raises the need for tax revenues. As the production factors increase mobility due to globalization, tax revenues have become even more critical. In this process, there has been an increase in the studies that analyze economic and behavioral factors that have an influence on tax revenue performance. In this study, the relationship between religion and tax revenues has been examined by panel data method using dummy variables for world religions. In countries with the highest Christian Protestant population have been found that their tax revenues are increasing. However, in countries where the population is predominantly Orthodox and Muslim, the tax revenues are decreasing due to various reasons. © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018.1The country sample includes Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Belize, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt Arab Republic, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Korea Republic, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uruguay, Austria, New Zealand, Ireland, Iran Islamic Republic, Yemen Republic, Oman, Central African Republic, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Nepal, and Burkina Faso. 2Israel was removed from the sample because it was a data problem. For this reason, Jewish religious dummy variable was not formed