IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/agr/journl/v4(617)y2018i4(617)p169-178.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tax smoothing hypothesis: The Tunisian case

Author

Listed:
  • Samia OMRANE BELGUITH

    (University of Sfax, Tunisia)

  • Foued Badr GABSI

    (University of Sfax, Tunisia)

  • Ameni MTIBAA

    (University of Sfax, Tunisia)

Abstract

This paper tests the tax smoothing hypothesis for Tunisia using annual data for the period of 1972-2015. According to this approach, an optimal fiscal rule is to smooth tax rates over time and to finance temporary difference between government expenditure and tax revenue by debt creation. Tax smoothing implies that the tax rate behaves as a random walk and changes in the tax rate are nearly unpredictable. For this reason, two tests are used. The first, is a unit root test performed on Tunisian data to examine the null hypothesis of non-stationary of the tax rates. The results show that the null hypothesis of the unit root cannot be rejected, indicating that the tax rate is nonstationary and, thus, it follows a random walk. The second is the cointegration test which indicate that the future tax rate is cointegrated with the current permanent government expenditure rate. Therefore, Tunisia is trying to keep close correspondence between these two variables. In this context, the best policy option would be an initiation of prompt action program of tax base expansions and expenditure rationalization.

Suggested Citation

  • Samia OMRANE BELGUITH & Foued Badr GABSI & Ameni MTIBAA, 2018. "Tax smoothing hypothesis: The Tunisian case," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania - AGER, vol. 0(4(617), W), pages 169-178, Winter.
    • Handle: RePEc:agr:journl:v:4(617):y:2018:i:4(617):p:169-178
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://store.ectap.ro/articole/1366.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.ectap.ro/articol.php?id=1366&rid=133
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gerhard Reitschuler, 2011. "Optimal taxation and budget deficits: Evidence for the EU's New Member States," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 31(3), pages 2593-2602.
    2. Gerhard Reitschuler, 2010. "Fiscal Policy And Optimal Taxation: Evidence From A Tax Smoothing Exercise," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 57(2), pages 238-252, May.
    3. Hakkio, Craig S & Rush, Mark, 1991. "Is the Budget Deficit "Too Large?"," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 29(3), pages 429-445, July.
    4. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec..
    5. Cashin, P. & Olekalns, N. & Sahay, R., 1998. "Tax Smoothing in a Financially Repessed Economy: Evidence from India," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 656, The University of Melbourne.
    6. Robert J. Barro, 1981. "On the Predictability of Tax-Rate Changes," NBER Working Papers 0636, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Barro, Robert J, 1986. " U.S. Deficits since World War I," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 88(1), pages 195-122.
    8. Ihtsham Padda, 2014. "On minimizing the welfare cost of fiscal policy: evidence from South Asia," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 1553-1572, May.
    9. Paul Clist & Oliver Morrissey, 2011. "Aid and tax revenue: Signs of a positive effect since the 1980s," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(2), pages 165-180, March.
    10. International Monetary Fund, 1999. "Spend Now, Pay Later? Tax Smoothing and Fiscal Sustainability in South Asia," IMF Working Papers 1999/063, International Monetary Fund.
    11. John Ashworth & Lynne Evans, 1998. "Seigniorage and tax smoothing in developing countries," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 25(6), pages 486-495, October.
    12. Barro, Robert J, 1979. "On the Determination of the Public Debt," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages 940-971, October.
    13. Mark Strazicich, 2002. "International evidence of tax smoothing in a panel of industrial countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(18), pages 2325-2331.
    14. Dirk Niepelt, 2004. "Tax Smoothing versus Tax Shifting," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 7(1), pages 27-51, January.
    15. Rajaguru, Gulasekaran & Abeysinghe, Tilak, 2008. "Temporal aggregation, cointegration and causality inference," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 223-226, December.
    16. Strazicich, Mark C., 1997. "Does Tax Smoothing Differ by the Level of Government? Time Series Evidence from Canada and the United States," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 305-326, April.
    17. Ghosh, Atish R, 1995. "Intertemporal Tax-Smoothing and the Government Budget Surplus: Canada and the United States," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(4), pages 1033-1045, November.
    18. Nilss Olekalns, 1997. "Australian Evidence on Tax Smoothing and the Optimal Budget Surplus," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 73(222), pages 248-257, September.
    19. Lusine Lusinyan & John Thornton, 2011. "Unit roots, structural breaks and cointegration in the UK public finances, 1750-2004," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(20), pages 2583-2592.
    20. Taner Turan & Mesut Karakas & Halit Yanikkaya, 2014. "Tax Smoothing Hypothesis: A Turkish Case," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 61(4), pages 487-501, September.
    21. Bohn, Henning, 1990. "Tax Smoothing with Financial Instruments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1217-1230, December.
    22. Crosby, M. & Olekalns, N., 1998. "Some Long Run Evidence on Tax Smoothing," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 609, The University of Melbourne.
    23. Huang, Chao-Hsi & Lin, Kenneth S., 1993. "Deficits, government expenditures, and tax smoothing in the United States: 1929-1988," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 317-339, June.
    24. Rocha, Fabiana, 2001. "Is There Any Rationale to the Brazilian Fiscal Policy?," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 55(3), July.
    25. Ananda Jayawickrama & Tilak Abeysinghe, 2013. "The experience of some OECD economies on tax smoothing," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(16), pages 2305-2313, June.
    26. Robert J. Barro, 1999. "Notes on Optimal Debt Management," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(2), pages 281-289, November.
    27. Trehan, Bharat & Walsh, Carl E., 1988. "Common trends, the government's budget constraint, and revenue smoothing," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 12(2-3), pages 425-444.
    28. Lusine Lusinyan & John Thornton, 2009. "The sustainability of South African fiscal policy: an historical perspective," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(7), pages 859-868.
    29. Olekalns, Nilss, 1997. "Australian Evidence on Tax Smoothing and the Optimal Budget Surplus," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 73(222), pages 248-257, September.
    30. Taner Turan & Mesut Karakas & Halit Yanikkaya, 2014. "Tax Smoothing Hypothesis: A Turkish Case," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 61(4), pages 487-501.
    31. Cashin, P. & Haque, N. & Olekalns, N., 1999. "Spend Now, Pay Later? Tax Smoothing & Fiscal Sustainability in South Asia," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 700, The University of Melbourne.
    32. Serletis, Apostolos & Schorn, Richard G, 1999. "International Evidence on the Tax- and Revenue-Smoothing Hypotheses," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 51(2), pages 387-396, April.
    33. Sahasakul, Chaipat, 1986. "The U.S. evidence on optimal taxation over time," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 251-275, November.
    34. Evans, J. Lynne & Amey, Michael C., 1996. "Seigniorage and tax smoothing: Testing the extended tax-smoothing model," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 111-125.
    35. Johan Adler, 2006. "The Tax‐smoothing Hypothesis: Evidence from Sweden, 1952–1999," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 108(1), pages 81-95, March.
    36. R. Pasten & J. P. Cover, 2011. "Does the Chilean government smooth taxes? A tax-smoothing model with revenue collection from a natural resource," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(5), pages 421-425.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Samuel Bonzu, 2022. "Fiscal Policy and Optimal Taxation in Sierra Leone: Testing for Tax Smoothing Hypothesis," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 14(2), pages 1-61, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ananda Jayawickrama & Tilak Abeysinghe, 2013. "The experience of some OECD economies on tax smoothing," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(16), pages 2305-2313, June.
    2. Ihtsham Padda, 2014. "On minimizing the welfare cost of fiscal policy: evidence from South Asia," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 1553-1572, May.
    3. Taner Turan & Mesut Karakas & Halit Yanikkaya, 2014. "Tax Smoothing Hypothesis: A Turkish Case," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 61(4), pages 487-501, September.
    4. Ihtsham ul Haq PADDA*, 2010. "On Minimizing the Welfare Cost of Fiscal Policy:Pakistan’s Case," Pakistan Journal of Applied Economics, Applied Economics Research Centre, vol. 20, pages 77-99.
    5. Luo, Yulei & Nie, Jun & Young, Eric R., 2014. "Model uncertainty and intertemporal tax smoothing," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 289-314.
    6. Gerhard Reitschuler, 2010. "Fiscal Policy And Optimal Taxation: Evidence From A Tax Smoothing Exercise," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 57(2), pages 238-252, May.
    7. Pastén, Roberto & Cover, James P., 2015. "Tax tilting and politics: Some theory and evidence for Latin America," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 208-218.
    8. Cashin, P. & Haque, N. & Olekalns, N., 1999. "Spend Now, Pay Later? Tax Smoothing & Fiscal Sustainability in South Asia," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 700, The University of Melbourne.
    9. Samuel Bonzu, 2022. "Fiscal Policy and Optimal Taxation in Sierra Leone: Testing for Tax Smoothing Hypothesis," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 14(2), pages 1-61, February.
    10. Johan Adler, 2006. "The Tax‐smoothing Hypothesis: Evidence from Sweden, 1952–1999," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 108(1), pages 81-95, March.
    11. Dimitris K. Christopoulos & John Loizides & Efthymios G. Tsionas, 2009. "Electoral Motives, Partisan Motives And Dynamic Optimality With Many Taxes: An International Investigation," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 56(1), pages 94-113, February.
    12. Emilio Congregado & Vicente Esteve & Juan A. María A. Prats, 2024. "Optimal public deficit and tax-smoothing in the Spanish economy, 1850-2022," Working Papers 2401, Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia.
    13. Roberto Pasten & James P. Cover, 2010. "The Political Economy of Unsustainable Fiscal Deficits," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 47(136), pages 169-189.
    14. Adler, Johan, 2003. "Has Sweden’s government budget policy been too discretionary? Evidence from a generalization of the tax smoothing hypothesis," Working Papers in Economics 89, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    15. Cashin, Paul & Ul Haque, Nadeem & Olekalns, Nilss, 2003. "Tax smoothing, tax tilting and fiscal sustainability in Pakistan," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 47-67, January.
    16. Abeysinghe, Tilak & Jayawickrama, Ananda, 2008. "Singapore's recurrent budget surplus: The role of conservative growth forecasts," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 117-124, April.
    17. Maria Cornachione Kula, 2004. "U.S. States, the Medicaid Program, and Tax Smoothing," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 490-511, January.
    18. Maria Cornachione Kula, 2004. "U.S. States, the Medicaid Program, and Tax Smoothing," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 70(3), pages 490-511, January.
    19. Salih BARIŞIK & Abdullah BARIS, 2017. "Impact of governance on budget deficit in developing countries," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania - AGER, vol. 0(2(611), S), pages 111-130, Summer.
    20. Constantine Angyridis & Leo Michelis, 2021. "Structural breaks, debt limits and the tax smoothing hypothesis: theory and evidence from the OECD countries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 1283-1307, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:agr:journl:v:4(617):y:2018:i:4(617):p:169-178. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Marin Dinu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/agerrea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.