1 Introduction

Recently, there has been growing research interest around taxation or other revenue generation as a means of funding and achieving the developmental objectives of nations. Scholars consider this as a source to finance the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Gupta et al., 2021; Mohammed et al., 2018). They discovered very large financing gaps between developing nations, most especially African countries, and developed nations that may be an impediment to growth and developments (Lagoarde-Segot, 2020; Mardan & Stimmelmayr, 2020). This geared the call made by the IMF in 2015 for nations to improve their fiscal policies and internal revenue-generation skills for achieving the SDGs come 2030. Gupta, Jalles and Liu (2021) found that tax revenue from Sub-Saharan Africa was not enough to finance the SDGs, and suggested improvements in tax revenue generation to support these goals. In earlier years, taxation as a sub-set of fiscal and monetary policies was directed towards economic growth and development alone. Recently, taxation, monetary and other fiscal policies have been linked to not only growth and development, but also to sustainable development (Richards, 2021; Galperova et al., 2021; Gemmell, 2020; Lagoarde-Segot, 2020; Griffiths, 2018; Swan, 2016; Falade & Folorunso, 2015). Researchers have dwelt on the challenges, buoyancy of tax, international comparisons and disparities between developed and developing countries’ tax systems or policies, with very few empirical studies (Gupta et al., 2021; Mardan & Stimmelmayr, 2020; Griffiths, 2018; Dudine & Jalles, 2018; Carnahan, 2015; Ahmed & Muhammad, 2010; Bird, 1976; Fjeldstad & Rakner, 2003, Bird et al., 2008). This further necessitated the need to produce a universal super-ordinate goal encompassing several goals that can address the economic, social, political, and environmental problems facing the world that gave birth to the SDGs after the United Nations Conference at the end of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015. These SDGs, which contain 17 goals and 169 targets, are expected to put an end to inequality amongst and within nations. The SDGs also aim at zeropoverty; improved economic growth and development; ending poverty, unemployment, environmental degradation; and controlling carbon emissions, etc. The achievement of all these goals is expected to foster and improve sustainable economic growth and development, equality, employment generation and infrastructural development; foster peaceful co-existence and justice; and alleviate poverty at all levels.

As the world tends towards sustainability, researchers from different disciplines are provoked to call the attention of global decision-makers and policymakers to what must and should be done to achieve this global objective. To achieve this, machinery must be set and directed towards the achievement of these goals by many stakeholders. Therefore, researchers have recently seen taxation as a main, old, and reliable source of revenue for every nation that must be reformed for the purpose of achieving the SDGs’ agenda (Gupta et al., 2021; Richards, 2021; Mardan & Stimmelmayr, 2020). Moreover, taxation as a source of financing government expenditure plays an important role in the attainment of a nation’s developmental objectives. Extant studies corroborated the fact that taxation accounts for over 20% of developing nations’ percentage of GDP (Immurana, et al. 2021; Yensu et al., 2021). The Sustainable Development Goals agenda is one of the reasons for the recent growth in research in this area, since the taxation and economic growth relationship had been widely dealt with by early researchers, which forms part of the gaps that this study bridged (Ebimobowei, 2010; Falade & Folorunso, 2015; Owusu-Gyimah, 2015; Slepov et al., 2017). Therefore, studies on an effective tax system that can help to improve domestic revenue mobilization to finance national expenditure through infrastructural development and public goods and services for the achievement of SDGs for nations come 2030 are imperative (Richards, 2021). These issues form part of the gaps that this study fills. Although there are other means of revenue-generation available for nations, such as rates and Debt financing (i.e., borrowing from lending nations), debt is attached to risks and extra costs called ‘borrowing costs’, which may be injurious to sustainability if not properly managed. This makes taxation as a means of revenue generation superior over debt revenue (Falade & Folorunso, 2015). Governments of all nations impose taxes on their citizens to improve their revenue-generation capacity, which is the most common and reliable means of income and source of finance for national expenditure on nations’ development (Munjeyi et al., 2017). Other means of revenue could be debt or through natural resources such as crude oil. Extant researchers have proven that taxation plays a vital role and countries cannot survive or be sustainable without taxes. Moreover, countries that are poor in tax collection might be struggling to survive or cope with their various capital, developmental and recurrent expenditures (Galperova et al., 2021; Lagoarde-Segot, 2020; Gnangnon & Brun, 2020; Munjeyi et al., 2017). On the other hand, debt financing is not as popular as taxes because of the additional costs attached to it. Although many prior studies have argued that every decision has its cost, and whilst debt has finance costs, taxes also put a burden on taxpayers however small the tax may be. Nevertheless, the tax burden may be lessened and enjoyed if citizens enjoy the purpose for which tax is paid. Hence, countries look much healthier if tax revenue makes up substantial parts of their national income, rather than debt financing.

Linking taxation to sustainable development, taxation as a means of revenue generation in every economy is highly germane because it is the most common fiscal policy parameter that influences government revenue and expenditure to achieve developmental objectives that help to attain sustainable economic growth and development (Gupta et al., 2021; Lagoarde-Segot, 2020; Gnangnon & Brun, 2020; Griffiths, 2018; Falade & Folorunso, 2015). Therefore, taxation is one of the strongest fiscal policies for any government that aims to remain sustainable, and it should be improved to achieve these goals. If a nation is competitive in tax revenue, such a country will be buoyant to a certain level to execute any capital project (Mardan & Stimmelmayr, 2020). An efficient tax system is a revenue and expenditure booster that can assist nations to achieve robust and strong macro-economic objectives. Slepov et al. (2017) and Falade and Folorunso (2015) stated that an increase in tax revenue increases government expenditure by embarking on capital projects to achieve other developmental objectives. As the economies of nations expand, tax revenue is expected to increase accordingly because there will be enough funds for governments to incur expenditure. In addition, Menyah and Wolde-Rufael (2013) and Falade and Folorunso (2015) stated that taxation can enable nations to achieve their macro-economic objectives. The future sustainability of any nation depends solely on its level of revenue generation, its tax policies, and reforms. An effective tax system is very important to every country that desires sustainable tax revenue and good resource mobilization. Governments, for their part, need to demonstrate a good quality of transparency and accountability in this area for their citizens to be committed to tax payments, otherwise the majority will evade and avoid tax payments (Gurama et al., 2015).

Having defined the importance of taxation and its link to national expenditure and the sustainability of any nation, it is imperative to discuss how germane this study is to the SDGs. This study is important and timely because there is need to strengthen and awaken countries’ domestic revenue-generation capacity in developing and under-developed countries, especially in African countries. Many countries have been driven away from tax revenue because of the other sources of income available to them. There is no contradicting the fact that there is a great disparity between the level of tax policies and systems in African countries when compared with developed countries (Lagoarde-Segot, 2020; Mardan & Stimmelmayr, 2020). Many developed nations, especially amongst the G7, live on taxes alone as a means of revenue generation, yet they are lenders to many nations compared to those that are well-endowed and rich in other sources of finance, such as oil and other natural resources. For instance, Nigeria is very rich in terms of natural resources such as crude oil, gas, gold, limestone, tin and columbite, etc., yet poverty and unemployment levels are very high, and the debt structure is not sustainable because the country is indebted to many nations including IMF, World Bank. Although no country is totally self-sufficient and debt-free because debt is also a good source of finance, it should be the last resort and should not be above the country’s capacity. This means that it should be within a limit that would not be injurious to sustainable development. For instance, when a country’s recurrent expenditure is financed by debt, sustainability would be threatened. Nigeria is a strong example of a country where leaders could not use their yearly tax revenue to produce good refineries for their citizens because of corruption, and they keep borrowing to repair already dead old refineries that can never fit into today’s technology. Another reason for this study is the need for sustainable tax revenues for African countries that can bring about sustainable economic growth and development towards the attainment of the SDGs come 2030. There is also need for tax reforms that can generate revenue to accommodate countries’ national expenditure for the SDGs to be achieved (Gnangnon & Brun, 2020). Although scholars have attached reasons for the differences in country-specific risks, different environments, good technical design, and policies implementation are the major reasons for differences in tax revenue between developed and developing countries (Mardan & Stimmelmayr, 2020). This study also advocates a good and effective tax system, which is very important to every country that wants to enjoy sustainable tax revenue for good resource mobilization. Governments need to demonstrate a high quality of transparency and accountability in this area for their citizenry to be committed to tax payment. Most countries in Africa lack these qualities, which leads to many of their citizens evading and avoiding taxes (Gurama et al., 2015).

It is important to establish the problem statement that this study solves in relation to tax revenue and SDGs. For many years, many Africans were not committed to paying taxes because they could not enjoy any benefit for being a taxpayer. This has now become part of their behavior and culture, and it will take many years, strong orientation, and follow-up programs from governments to change this mentality. Therefore, governments need to demonstrate high levels of commitment to transparency and accountability in this regard to encourage their citizens in the payment of taxes (Okoye et al., 2012). The fact remains that African countries need to double up their efforts for them to achieve these goals. For instance, it was revealed that more than 15% of the world population lives in abject poverty and hunger, and they lack the basic needs of life such as quality education, good water, and good health. The report revealed that most people that fall into this category are from African countries. Another major problem is the financing gap between developed and developing countries that can aid the achievement of developmental objectives, leading to the attainment of the SDGs in a broad sense. This must be bridged if there would be equality, as one of the goals SDGs preaches. Hence, the need for domestic revenue mobilization to finance infrastructural development and public goods and services is inevitable for countries’ sustainability (Gurama et al., 2015; Fjeldstad, 2014). The main motivation for this study is the large gap between developed and developing countries when comparing the probability of them achieving the 17 goals that make up the SDGs by the end of 2030, or even 2050 as projected for African countries by some scholars. All African countries fall short of the standard of achieving these goals. Many reasons such as weak governance, corruption, poor developmental objectives in terms of skills and methods, poor infrastructure, poor economic structure, selfish leaders, good tax systems with poor implementation strategies, poor human development, insurgency, and militancy, etc. are characteristic of African countries. Therefore, it is very important that this gap is bridged through different financing sources that can support the achievement of SDGs, as suggested by Griffiths (2018). This and many more are the gaps this study bridged and adds to the body of knowledge. All the above-mentioned factors distract attention from and hinder the achievement of these goals.

As discovered and identified by African SDGs Index and Dashboards (2021), funding constraints are a major impediment that can hinder the achievement of these SDGs in African countries. The achievement of this goal requires huge funding, and this study sees taxation as the most common, best, and reliable source of revenue to finance these goals. Ironically, many African countries neglect or even handle taxation with a lack of proper seriousness. Therefore, many developing countries, especially sub-Saharan countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, etc. need to improve on their tax systems through tax reforms, tax policies, implementations, and such (Gupta et al., 2021). Ghana, South Africa, and Mauritius have started very strong tax reforms that will serve as a boost to the SDGs’ achievement (Immurana, et al. 2021; Yensu et al., 2021). Hence, the need to re-visit revenue generation and tax systems in African countries is germane if they want to make the dream of the SDGs agenda a reality come 2030. With a deeper understanding of this challenge, two sources of problems are identified, namely problems from the government and problems from taxpayers. For instance, tax evasion is prominent in African countries because citizens are not enjoying their taxes as governments have denied them their rights in return for their taxes. Tax evasion is common despite its illegality and the penalties attached to it. Companies intentionally use illegal means to evade taxes by hiding or misrepresenting incomes, inflating expenses, or even understating profits that are supposed to be reported, as well as other forms of window-dressing that are all characteristic of African countries’ companies (Okoye et al., 2012). From the above, most African countries are not on track to achieving the SDGs, and getting back on track will require significant reforms such as national economic and global economic reforms. Apart from reforms, this study sees revenue and funding constraints as a major impediment to achieving SDGs such as zero hunger; zero poverty; and social, economic, gender and environmental inequality, and sees taxation as a major source of revenue that can help in solving this problem (Griffiths, 2018). The uniqueness of this work is that it is a comparative analysis between developed countries and African countries, which to the best of these research findings have not been researched previously. This study provokes insight into selected developed countries’ tax practices and how developing and emerging economies can better support their tax revenues, reforms, and policies in the attainment of the SDGs. This is done by looking into how African countries can strengthen their domestic revenue generation locally and internationally as a source of finance for sustainable economic growth and development. The current study also discovered that studies that linked taxation with expenditure towards sustainable goals are still scarce in the world literature and very scarce in the African context. Hence, this study covers this gap in the literature and adds to the extant body of knowledge in this regard. To solve the above problem, the current study carved out two objectives. This study examines the impact of taxation on SDGs using selected African countries and selected developed countries. This study further classified problems into three levels and suggested solutions to those problems facing developing countries’ revenue generation for sustainable economic growth and development. Other parts of this study are arranged as follows: literature review and structure; a general overview of taxation in Africa; a review of extant studies; model specifications; data analysis and interpretations; discussion and implications, and conclusion and recommendations.

2 Literature review and structure

Revenue generation through effective taxation as a means of domestic resource mobilization for the pursuit of Sustainable Development is a strong tool that helps in financing SDGs (United Nations, 2022; Griffiths, 2018). Fiscal policies have the capacity to mobilize several goals, such as inequality reduction, the provision of quality work and economic growth. Therefore, this study combines the theory of the United Nations SDGs and the Principle of Taxation as the theoretical framework upon which this research is premised. This study believes that if a country’s tax system possesses and is active in the principles of fairness, equity, convenience, flexibility, neutrality, being economical and certainty, it will boost the citizens’ morale to pay more tax at any time, thereby improving a country’s revenue capacity and helping in the achievement of SDGs in the long run. Therefore, within the 3 pillars of the SDGs (social, economic, and environmental) and the 17 goals of Sustainable Development, countries globally should have Growth-Sustainability-Oriented Fiscal Adjustment Programs and Sustainable Government Expenditure that can help push and re-direct governments to achieve the SDGs in Africa. Improvements in nations’ tax revenues are expected to increase governments’ total revenue to execute the capital and recurrent expenditure of any nation (Falade & Folorunso, 2015). In both developing and under-developed countries, where African countries belong, taxes are one of the main sources of finance for most nations. Even rich nations such as Nigeria that are endowed with crude oil still depend mainly on taxes to survive. Slepov et al. (2017) stated that taxes and debt are the most common and important sources of finance for any government, but debt lags because of its additional cost of finance when a scale of preference is introduced. Owusu-Gyimah (2015) and Griffiths (2018) found a correlation between taxes and economic growth and development. In addition, Ofoegbu et al. (2016) stated that sustainable tax policies help to enjoy competitive cost advantages through government expenditure. Taxation is defined as a compulsory levy on citizens’ income in the form of personal income taxes, and on the consumption of goods and services in the form of indirect taxes. It is a very old means of generating revenue for every government for social, environmental, and economic development through the provision of infrastructure and other developmental projects for their citizens. Taxes are paid to all levels of government, local/municipalities, state/provincial levels, and Federal/national levels with the help of various laws, acts, decrees, legislation, etc. The major problem with African countries’ revenue generation, despite government laws and other legislation, is that they still experience very low yearly tax returns. There are reasons for this, but a summary of those reasons is that people’s morale has been killed over the years and citizens have lost confidence in their governments as they could not get returns from their past taxes. This makes tax revenues as a percentage of their GDP very low compared to developed countries (Mardan & Stimmelmayr, 2020). There are other uses of taxation apart from revenue generation, namely income redistribution, sustainable expenditure, attracting foreign direct investors, protecting local investors or companies, budgetary plans, the achievement of sustainable economic growth, and reducing income inequality. Above all, tax revenue can be used to finance and achieve the SDGs pertaining to zero poverty; zero hunger; very low unemployment; zero inequality, including gender inequality; zero environmental degradation; sustainable economic growth; and development. In fact, the uses of sustainable tax revenue are advantageous to every nation and its attainment worth aspiring to. Therefore, every policymaker should be more focused on using different policies to make these goals a reality. Consequently, many African countries have introduced policies that could have eradicated poverty, hunger, and unemployment. Unfortunately, those policies failed because of politicking, a lack of continuity, lack of transparency and accountability, amongst others. For example, Nigeria’s Operation Feed Your Nation would have eradicated or reduced hunger in the country. The green revolution would have made the country enjoy food security, and other structural adjustment programs such as N-power would have reduced unemployment drastically. However, all these failed due to the change of power, changes in government and other political practices, to the detriment of citizens. There are policies from other African countries that tend towards sustainability, but the process is slow, exacerbated by the recent Covid-19 pandemic, which also contributed to the retardation. Today, many African countries are in abject poverty and hunger, and unemployment is rampant, which are all problems that the SDGs agenda is trying to eradicate. Therefore, it is clearly illustrated that African countries are not on track to the SDGs, and getting back on track will require major financial and economic reforms. Hence the need to transform every nation to the next level where every economy will be at the same pace and which will not deprive upcoming generations of their right to live, is inevitable. This is the stage at which nations and policymakers should be more focused and aggressive in using different legal means, such as economic tools, or instruments and regulatory policies, such as fiscal and monetary instruments, to make this goal a reality. This study examines the impact and the role of taxation in the achievement or actualization of the SDGs to secure this generation, while future generations are not left behind. The study proceeds to an overview of the general nature of taxation in African countries.

2.1 General overview of Taxation in African compared to European countries

Taxation has been a major source of revenue for both developed and developing countries in return for the administration and the benefits they provide to citizens and residents (Nwokoye & Rolle, 2015; World Bank, 2000). While developed countries have attempted to lift sustainable economic growth by increasing public expenditure (Dudine & Jalles, 2018), Sub-Saharan African economies except for South Africa and Mauritius have lately embarked on excessive borrowing to keep their fiscal balances from deteriorating. Within European countries, Bouthevillan et al. (2001) indicated that corporate income taxes are more buoyant in contributing to governments’ generation of revenue when compared to Africa. In Nigeria, the diversification of revenue streams through tax reforms (Okafor, 2012) was necessary when an over-dependency on crude oil revenue failed to sustain public expenditure (Omesi & Nzor, 2015). Scholars have called on the Nigerian government to broaden its tax base as well as increase its Value Added Tax (VAT) rate from 5 to 10% to boost its sustainable development goals (Oriakhi & Ahuru, 2014). In the last decade, Ghana’s economy has experienced significant growth (Malik et al., 2021). The country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) witnessed growth by 92% overall (Malik et al., 2021). Moreover, the economy and the fiscal policy have undergone significant structural reforms (Owusu-Gyimah, 2015). Total tax revenue collections in 2019 totaled GH¢45.6 billion, implying a tax-to-GDP ratio of 13% when compared to richer countries with a 33.9% tax-to-GDP ratio (OECD, 2020; Owusu-Gyimah, 2015). However, Ghana’s tax revenue collections are relatively low. In line with 36 lower middle-income countries, Ghana ranked 26th in 2018 (Iddrisu et al., 2021). Meanwhile in rich nations, policy simulations have resulted in tax rate cuts to stimulate economic growth (Ferede & Dahlby, 2012). There was also widespread public demand for tax reforms in New Zealand, including reductions in personal income tax rates (Gemmell, 2020; Griffiths, 2018). The Mauritian economy experienced robust growth because of tight fiscal policies to limit the country’s fiscal deficit to less than 3% of GDP in the mid1990s (Yao et al., 2005). Further tax reforms have been embarked upon, leading to sustainable environmental objectives (Parry, 2012) as well as the removal of taxes on intra-regional trade to harmonize external taxes at lower levels. This study thus reviews prior related studies to discover gaps from the literature.

2.2 Prior studies on sustainable tax revenue, sustainable expenditure and sustainable development goals

The study conducted by Gupta et al. (2021) to examine tax buoyancy in sub-Saharan Africa revealed that current tax capacities and systems would not be able to generate the financial support to achieve SDGs. Hence, the need for African nations to improve on their revenue generation and taxation across the region. Richards (2021) examined the role of taxation as a source of financing countries’ developmental objectives and as a means of achieving the SDGs, with results revealing that developmental objectives are hindered by funding constraints. Richards (2021) suggested that a partnership between the government and private sectors of various nations was needed to mobilize private resources that can help to achieve the SDGs, such as taxation. Gnangnon and Brun (2020) empirically investigated the effect of tax reforms on the fiscal policies of developing countries, with results revealing that tax reforms positively affect fiscal policies in developing countries. The researchers suggested that tax policymakers in developing countries should embark on tax reform policies in their respective countries whenever the need arose. In addition, Fjeldstad (2014) examined the relationship between taxation and development by reviewing past tax reforms in sub-Saharan Africa, and findings revealed that global financial crises affected revenue generation in the region. This led to many donor countries paying more attention to the effectiveness of the aid to encourage and support developing countries. Moreover, Bird (2008) reviewed three ways in which developing countries may improve their tax systems, revealing that these are: tax rate reductions, improvements in tax, and reform administration. Ahmed and Muhammed (2010) empirically determined the buoyancy of tax in developing countries and revealed that tax contributions from different sectors influence tax buoyancy, but other sectors such as the agricultural sector that were not taxed negatively affected tax buoyancy. Fjeldstad and Rakner (2003) studied taxation and tax reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa, suggesting empirical studies for a better understanding of the relationship between taxation and tax reform for developmental growth through compliance enhancement and tax reform maintenance. Gurama, Mansor and Pantamee (2015) established the relationship between tax systems and tax evasion by reviewing prior studies, revealing that taxes are essential instruments used by various countries to redistribute wealth and to achieve developmental projects. Bird et al. (2008) examined the impact of corruption, voice, and accountability on tax effort in developing countries and high-income countries and revealed that corruption and accountability determine the tax efforts of a country. Furthermore, Carnahan (2015) investigated the general challenges of taxation in developing countries, revealing that poor tax administration; political globalization; compliance; the transparency of both the taxpayer and the government; and accountability are the major challenges facing taxation in developing countries.

Slepov et al. (2017) examined trends of fiscal and monetary policy in maintaining sustainable public debt and influencing sustainable economic growth. Their study revealed that tax, as a fiscal instrument, is better to use to offset debt than any other instrument for sustainable economic growth achievement. Moreover, Gurdal, Aydin and Inal (2021) examined the relationship between tax revenue, government expenditure and economic growth, and their results revealed a bi-directional causality between government expenditure and economic growth, but a unidirectional causality between tax revenue and government expenditure. Further findings revealed a bi-directional causality in both the short- and long-run between economic growth and government expenditure, and only a long-run relationship between economic growth and government expenditure. The authors concluded that tax policies are powerful financial tools for the achievement of greater potential economic objectives. Mardan and Stimmelmayr (2020) analyzed tax competition between developing and developed countries and revealed that tax revenue explains and is a source of support to countries’ level of development and growth. Moreover, El-Mahdy and Torayeh (2009) examined the impact of debt on economic growth and the sustainability of debt, and the results revealed that debt has a negative impact on economic growth but proved to be sustainable to growth. Ebimobowei (2010) studied the effect of fiscal policy on economic growth, showing that a significant relationship exists between fiscal policies and economic growth. Falade and Folorunso (2015) determined the appropriate mix of fiscal and monetary policy that a country needs to enjoy sustainable economic growth. The results revealed a long-run relationship amongst the variables of fiscal and monetary policies and economic growth, and that both short- and long-run economic growth sustainability appropriate mixes depend on the level of expansion of the economy of any country. Menyah and Wolde-Rufael (2013) investigated the relationship between government expenditure and economic growth, and findings revealed a long-run relationship between government expenditure and economic growth represented by GDP. The researchers suggested that every government should improve their fiscal policy as it enhances and stabilizes economic growth. Munjeyi, Mutasa and Maponga (2017) analyzed the performance of informal tax revenue in Zimbabwe and revealed that the informal sector played an important role in the Zimbabwean economy in areas such as poverty eradication and unemployment reduction. They suggested that more resources should be channeled to the informal sector for more growth achievement in the economy. Swan (2016) employed the Australian experience to examine sustainable tax for development in a global context by considering four areas of tax reform, and their results revealed that countries should strengthen their domestic tax revenue generation skills for sustainable development. Okoye, Akenbor and Obara (2012) investigated reasons for low tax compliance in the Nigerian informal sector and its impact on economic growth and development, suggesting ways to achieve better tax compliance. Their results revealed that high tax rates; the poor provision of public goods and services; a lack of transparency and accountability of public funds; outdated tax laws; and corruption are the causes of non-compliance with tax in the informal sector of Nigeria. Additionally, Griffiths (2018) examined different financing sources that can help to attain SDGs, and the results revealed that G77 should head the push for major reforms before their next financing for development. The Conference suggested an inter-governmental tax body under the United Nations that ensures that developing countries could participate equally in the global reform of international tax rules. Moreover, Lagoarde-Segot (2020) employed economic history, theoretical and accounting frameworks to discover a pathway to finance the SDGs agenda. He identified tax as a financing mechanism that can bridge the SDGs budget gap for economic growth and development. The study by Mohammed, Steinbach and Stede (2018) on fiscal reforms for sustainable marine fisheries governance revealed that the fiscal instrument is an effective tool to achieving SDGs. Furthermore, Galperova, et al. (2021) suggested a systematic approach to reforming existing tax policy in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. They also studied the principle of tax systems, which can also help to achieve the SDGs.

Findings from the literature reviewed show that most countries are not yet on track regarding the achievement of the SDGs, and that it will require multiple financial and economic reforms for countries to get back on track and to remain on track for the attainment of the SDGs. This revealed the fact that the current study is very important and timely. Many studies in this area on taxation and economic growth revealed positive relationships between tax as a means of revenue and economic growth and development (Griffiths, 2018; Mardan & Stimmelmayr, 2020; Owusu-Gyimah, 2015). There have been very few studies between taxation and SDGs, and those few studies have covered more developed countries than African countries (Griffiths, 2018; Gupta, 2021). The fact is that general findings have revealed that taxation as a source of finance is a very strong means that can improve nations’ chances of achieving the SDGs (Griffiths, 2018). As at today, African countries fall short of the standard of achieving these goals come 2030. Many reasons such as weak governance, corruption, poor developmental objectives in terms of skills and methods, poor infrastructure, poor economic structure, selfish leaders, poor human development, insurgency, and militancy and above all, good tax systems with poor implementation strategies are characteristic of African countries. However, the main motivation for this study is the large gap between developed and developing countries when comparing the probability of them achieving SDGs. Hence, this study believes that this gap can be bridged if financing sources to support its achievement are improved upon. Empirical studies are scarce in this research area. Hence, this is the gap that this study covers and adds to the body of knowledge.

2.3 Problems facing tax-revenue generation in African Countries and their suggested solutions

The study identified many challenges facing tax revenue generation in African countries. These are sub-divided into government-related problems, individual-related problems, and international institutions-related problems. These challenges are discussed below:

2.3.1 Government-related problems

  1. 1.

    Tax policy reform: Most African countries are still dwelling on the old tax or revenue rates of the1960s and 1970s, which are outdated and due for review. There are many reasons to reform tax laws, regulations and policies that govern the revenue generation and tax administration capacity of a nation. Recent levels of industrialization, commercialization, civilization, and SDGs are some of the reasons why there should be tax reform, which should accommodate all the development expenditure of the country.

  2. 2.

    Government failure over years: Most African countries are experiencing low-tax revenue generation today because their citizens could not enjoy the past taxes that they have been paying over the years. They could not use those taxes to provide developmental projects and other infrastructural facilities that generations to come would enjoy, and that could help or boost the achievement of the SDGs.

  3. 3.

    Poor Tax Implementation policies: The study discovered implementation problems across African countries. Many African countries have good and robust policies, but with poor implementation and continuity problems. The fact is that if their tax policies and laws are properly implemented, most sub-Saharan African countries would become or change from low-tax revenue generation countries to high-tax revenue-generation countries.

  4. 4.

    Corruption/ Selfish leaders: Most leaders in African countries are selfish and corrupt in their practices. Imagine a president spending over thirty years in service because he wants to remain in power forever. They embezzle and turn public funds towards their personal and private use.

  5. 5.

    Poor sensitization of the Informal Sector: The informal sector is the most important sector of every country because they normally comprise a large portion of a country’s total population. This sector needs proper sensitization programs because they are usually illiterate when it comes to tax issues, hence they do not attach any importance to it. This sector is characterized by tax evasion and tax avoidance because they see no need for tax compliance. This is due to the nature of their work. Most of their businesses are privately owned with no proper records of registration with the Inland Revenue authority, which makes it difficult for the government to track their business activities for tax purposes.

  6. 6.

    Over-dependency on other sources of finance: Most countries in Africa, especially oil and gas-rich nations or others with natural resources like gold, limestone, etc., are easily distracted from tax revenue. This is because they see these other sources as non-tax revenue that nations can use to generate funding instead of tax revenue. 

  7. 7.

    Taxation and Politics: Many African leaders use tax revenues meant to develop every part of the nation to concentrate on areas or sectors of their interest for reasons such as tribalism, nepotism or to punish certain communities that fail to vote for them during general elections. This may hinder the equal distribution of income or even allow poverty, inequality, and unemployment to be concentrated on one side of the country than the other. Furthermore, this may equally hinder the achievement of SDGs in the long run.

2.3.2 Individual-related problems

  1. 1.

    Tax Evasion and Avoidance: Despite the punishment attached to tax evaders, people in Africa still choose to evade and avoid tax payments because of failures on the part of their governments; weak tax administration; implementation; and follow-up. This is a challenge that must be handled seriously and systematically because it has affected people mentally.

  2. 2.

    Poverty/low income: Most of the people in this category will prefer to evade or avoid tax if they have their way because of their poverty or income levels. Poor people only think of food, and they consume less vatable goods and services, which means that VAT revenue will be very low in countries with high poverty rates.

  3. 3.

    Bad Economic situations, high unemployment rates and high price inflation: Poor people under very high price inflation will look for every means to evade taxes, which is a characteristic common to African countries. High rates of unemployment increase the poverty rate of a country because many people between the ages of 20 to 60 years waste their productive lives doing nothing. Later, when they are above 60 years old, they become dependent on their families, thereby worsening poverty levels. Bad economics, unemployment and high price situations contribute to low-tax revenue on the continent and is a major threat to the achievement of SDGs, which are major goals that the Sustainable Development Agenda is trying to address globally.

  4. 4.

    Natural disasters/insurgency/violence/crises/conflict: This is a serious issue and a country that is characterized by any of these will find it difficult to generate high revenue. For instance, during the Covid-19 pandemic, many companies and citizens could not pay their taxes and other tenement dues such as water and electricity bills. Many lost their lives and jobs, and companies experienced low profits, which resulted in low company income taxes. Another example is the Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria that resulted in the loss of lives and displaced many citizens. Lastly, the ongoing RussiaUkraine war has displaced many citizens from where they were earning a living, affecting the general economy of those nations and the global economy at large. There is no doubt that this war will bring setbacks to the achievement of the SDGs

  5. 5.

    Illiteracy/ Ignorance: This set of citizens are common in the informal sector of every economy of various nations. They do not know their rights and obligations. Moreover, because of their level of income, they believe that only the rich should be taxed. Governments need strong sensitization and training programs to change the attitude of this group towards taxation. This group is important to any nation because they usually comprise a large part of any country’s total population.

2.3.3 International institutions-related problems

  1. 1.

    Failure of Global Economics Governance: Even though most useful economic reforms take place at national levels, sometimes issues at the international level do affect both national and local levels. There is a need to involve and include developing countries in decisions taken at the international level by the G20 countries. There should be a link between economic governance at the international level with that of the national level, and their decisions should not be injurious to other countries. For instance, the need for international bodies such as the UN, IMF, World Bank, World Development Bank, etc. to embark on policies that are ambitious in nature will encourage developing countries to forge ahead, and not develop policies that will take them backwards. This is very important because the SDGs policy is very ambitious to achieve. Developing countries need these international bodies to embark on types of policies that will motivate countries to push forward their ambitions towards the achievement of the SDGs (Griffiths, 2018).

  2. 2.

    Ratio of developing Countries represented in International Decision-Making: The ratio of representatives from developing countries, especially African countries, is inadequate compared to developed countries. The need to involve more representatives from African countries and other developing countries in political decision-making affairs at the international level is highly imperative. This will not only make countries in this category sustainable but will also help their voices to be heard internationally, especially when it comes to voting rights. For instance, Griffiths (2018) suggested that the UN financing body for Development Conference should be increased to G77 to give room for more countries to be involved in international decisions. This can also be increased to G100 to accommodate more African countries in international affairs. In addition, the decision on tax incentives should be fully involved with more representatives from developing countries that will involve more African representatives for better sustainable decision-making.

  3. 3.

    Inequality amongst nations: The need for equality is very important to the achievement of these goals at the international institutions where decisions pertaining to SDGs are taken. This is because developing countries are places where most of the world’s total population resides. This study avers that equality and other financing SDGs start at the international level. For instance, the issue of double majority voting at the IMF floor and other decisions that can also have negative implications for the achievement of SDGs.

  4. 4.

    Interest of some G10 countries in African countries: Many African countries are endowed with natural resources that attract some European and American countries. The interests of these countries also bring about problems in this regard. For instance, the influence of many G7 countries aggravates the situation involving Russia and Ukraine. This no doubt has disrupted all economic activities and claimed many lives, which will hinder the achievement of the SDGs’ agenda of those two countries, as well as the BRICS countries.

3 Data source and Methodology

3.1 Data

This study employs a panel annual dataset of 45 selected countriesFootnote 1 covering the period 2010–2020 to examine the effect of sustainable tax revenue and expenditure on the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. The outcome variables employed in this study include GDP per capita growth (annual %), poverty headcount ratio, and unemployment total (% of total labor force) as proxies for sustainable growth. The explanatory variables include grants and other revenue (REV), other taxes (TAX), tax revenue as a percentage of GDP (TREV), taxes on exports (TEXP), taxes on goods and services (TGOG), and taxes on income, profit, and capital (TINC). The dataset for all the variables is extracted from the World Development Indicators (WDI) database. The choice of period is dictated by the availability of data. Table 1 presents the summary statistics of the variables under consideration for both African and developed regions. The primary motivation for this formal regional analysis stems from the regional differences in economic performance, macroeconomic indicators, trade relations and development levels, amongst others. The average economic growth of African and developed countries stands at 4.262 and 7.371 respectively, with developed countries experiencing a surge in economic performance and activities compared to African countries. The average values of poverty and unemployment are 6.496 and 7.951 in African countries compared to developed countries, which stand at 4.741 and 4.348 respectively. This indicates that African developing countries were still grappling with rising poverty and unemployment during the study period. On the tax sustainability indicators, the averages of other revenue (REV), other taxes (TAX), tax revenue (TREV), taxes on exports (TEXP), and taxes on goods and services (TGOG) are 2.861, 5.351, 7.391, 14.171 and 5.291 respectively in developed countries, indicating rising tax efforts during the study period. Conversely, the averages of other revenue (REV), other taxes (TAX), tax revenue (TREV), taxes on exports (TEXP), and taxes on goods and services (TGOG) were 5.220, 3.540, 3.354, 9.051 and 2.691 respectively in African countries during the study period.

Table 1 Descriptive statistics (African)
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3.2 Methodology

To investigate the effect of sustainable tax revenue and expenditure on the achievement of the SDGs, the generalized method of moments (GMM) developed by Arellano and Bover (1995) and Bundell and Bond (1998) is utilized for this research. The GMM technique is notable for circumventing the problems of endogeneity and unobserved intercept heterogeneity that often arise amongst other techniques. The choice of using standard techniques like the traditional fixed effect estimator could generate biased and inconsistent results, particularly when there is a possible correlation between lagged dependent variables and the idiosyncratic error term. To address the issue of endogeneity, Bundell and Bond (1998) considered the use of the lagged difference and the exclusion of variables that are explanatory in nature to eliminate the fixed effects. The GMM technique also performs better in a situation where the cross-section countries are larger in numbers as compared to the small numbers of time periods (Moral-Benito et al., 2019). This technique is considered suitable for this research given the different cross-section of countries considered and the short time span of the study. The reliability of the estimated lagged variable as an instrument is verified by the Sargan test of over-identifying restrictions to check for over-identifying, and the second-order serial correlation test denoted by AR (2) is employed to check for the non-presence of autocorrelation in the second difference errors. Thus, this study’s empirical model is specified as follows:

$$GDP_{{it}} = \alpha _{i} + \theta _{1} GDP_{{it - 1}} + \theta _{2} x_{{it}}^{\prime } + v_{i} + u_{i} + \varepsilon _{{it}}$$
(1)

where \({GDP}_{it}\) denotes economic growth, poverty and unemployment as a proxy for sustainable growth and development; \({GDP}_{it-1}\) as the lagged dependent variable; \({x}_{it}^{\prime}\) as a vector of explanatory variables; \({v}_{i}\) stands for the country-specific effect; \({u}_{i}\) is the year-specific effect;\({\alpha }_{i}\) and \({\theta }_{i}\) are the intercept and the vector of parameter; and \({\varepsilon }_{it}\) is the error term.

3.3 Empirical results

The empirical analysis of this study begins with checking for the possibility of cross-sectional dependencies amongst the variables. In this regard, the Pesaran (2004) test is utilized to determine the dependency of the cross-section. Table 2 presents the outcome of the Pesaran cross-section test for both African and developed countries under consideration. The results show that the null hypothesis of no cross-sectional dependence was rejected for all the variables under investigation, implying the existence of cross-sectional dependence between the variables. Given the presence of cross-sections amongst the variables, the use of conventional unit root tests could give spurious results. Accordingly, the Pesaran (2007) unit root test is used in this study to determine the stationarity of the variables. As shown in Table 3, the results indicate that economic growth, poverty, unemployment, grant and other revenue, tax revenue, taxes on exports are integrated at first difference, while tax and taxes on goods and services are stationary at level.

Table 2 Cross-sectional dependence test
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Table 3 Pesaran (2007) CIPS panel unit root test results
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Tables 4 and 5 report the empirical analysis outcome, with economic growth, poverty, and unemployment as the dependent variables. The results present the panel estimation results of the dynamic panel model, where the first four columns (1–5) depict the results of the GDP as the dependent variable, (6–10) present the results of poverty, and (11–15) illustrate the results of unemployment. The coefficients on lagged economic growth, poverty and unemployment are positive and negative across the models, suggesting that previous economic performance, poverty, and unemployment affect the current level of economic growth, poverty, and unemployment in all the models. The coefficients of grants received, and other revenue have a positive effect on economic growth, but a negative effect on poverty and unemployment. This finding suggests that improvements in grants accumulated across different sources boost economic performance and the welfare of individuals in the analyzed countries. The outcome is an indication that accumulating more grants from different sources will help to achieve sustainable growth and development in these countries. This finding validates the arguments of Freire-Seren and Marti (2013) and Milesi-Ferretti and Roubini (1998) on the importance of fiscal capacity to spur economic performance. Similarly, the coefficients on other taxes are positive (1–4) and negative (5–12) across all the estimated models in both African and developed countries. The finding surmises that the mobilization of an efficient tax system enhances the productivity of the economies in African and developed countries via the provision of more job opportunities, which increase income, dampen poverty and unemployment, and thus promote the achievement of the SDGs. The finding is consistent with the previous studies of Oyinlola and Adedeji (2022). Additionally, the estimated coefficients of tax revenue are positive and negative across the model specifications. This finding indicates that tax revenue is a significant contributor to the achievement of sustainable growth and development in the analyzed countries. The findings also imply that governments’ imposition of taxes as a means of generating revenue is used to finance projects and meet the needs of citizens, which transforms the economic growth and welfare of these countries. Therefore, policymakers need to ensure the efficient utilization of revenue generated from taxes to spur growth and development in the considered countries. The finding is consistent with the results of Maganya (2020) for the Tanzanian economy.

Table 4 Dynamic panel model
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In addition, the results show that the coefficients of tax on exports are positive and negative respectively for all the models, suggesting that increasing export taxes enhance the financial buoyancy of the both the African developing countries and developed countries and thus generate income and improve welfare that is likely to aid the achievement of SDGs in these countries. In a similar vein, the coefficients of taxes on goods and services are negative and positive respectively but insignificant across the model specifications. Conversely, the estimated coefficients of income, profit and capital taxes are positive and negative for all the models. This finding indicates that improving tax efforts and bases on corporates and income will boost domestic resources mobilization for the analyzed countries, which can spur the growth and development processes of these countries. This finding is also an indication that increasing the tax base can expand public revenue and investment through the creation of adequate job opportunities, particularly for the growing population in developing countries, thus promoting the actualization of the SDGs. The findings validate the argument of Aghion et al. (2013) and Jones et al. (1993) that the intensification of capital tax can boost growth, contingent on shifting the tax burden away from labor using innovation-based growth model. This outcome is consistent with the findings of Oyinlola and Adedeji (2021) but contradicts the previous studies of Dackehag and Hansson (2012), Macek (2014) and Oyinlola et al. (2020) in their investigations. Finally, the validity and reliability of instrument variables are assessed by Arellano-Bond AR (2) tests and the Hansen J-test, which show that there is no second-order serial correlation, and the estimated models are properly specified.

3.4 Discussion and implications

The study examined different sources of taxes revenues as a support for the achievement of the SDGs in African countries. The results show that the coefficients on lagged economic growth, poverty and unemployment are positive and negative across the models. By implication, this suggests that the previous economic performance of any nation is a strong determinant of the present poverty and unemployment rates, and would thus affect future levels of economic growth, poverty, and unemployment as a measure of sustainable performance of the selected nations. This conforms to the findings of Zhu et al. (2022). The coefficients of grants received, and other revenue have a positive effect on economic growth, but a negative effect on poverty and unemployment. This finding suggests that improvements in grants accumulated across different sources boost economic performance and the welfare of individuals in the analyzed countries. The outcome is an indication that accumulating more grants from different sources would impact on economy positively and help to achieve sustainable growth and development in the selected countries. By implication, assistance from international institutions such as the World Bank, African Development Bank and United Nations are reliable sources of grants to governments and other revenue that can aid in achieving SDGs. The findings further indicate that the increase in grants from different sources also improves the financial stability of countries’ economies, which greatly contributes to economic development and sustainability in the long run. This finding validates the arguments of Zhu et al. (2022), Popoola, Jimoh and Oladipo (2017); Freire-Seren and Marti (2013) and Roubini (1998) on the importance of fiscal capacity to spur economic performance. Similarly, the coefficients on other taxes are positive to economic growth, but negative to poverty and unemployment across all the estimated models in both African and developed countries. The finding surmises that the mobilization of an efficient improvement in tax systems enhances a nation’s economic growth, development, and performance of the economies in African and developed countries. By implication, more revenue and taxes help governments to provide more developmental projects, leading to the provision of more job opportunities, which increases income, dampens poverty and unemployment, and thus promotes the achievement of the SDGs. The finding is consistent with the previous studies of Oyinlola and Adedeji (2022).

Additionally, the estimated coefficients of tax revenue are positive and negative across the model specifications. This finding indicates that tax revenue is a significant contributor to the achievement of sustainable growth and development in the analyzed countries. The findings also imply that governments’ imposition of taxes as a means of generating revenue is used to finance projects and meet the needs of citizens, which transforms the economic growth and welfare of these countries. By implication, tax revenue is one of the significant determinants of economic growth and a source of sustainable national expenditure as it provides fiscal sustainability to finance the social and physical infrastructure necessary for sustainable development. Even though in the short-run the effect may be slow, the long-run impact is greater. The negative effect may be because most of the tax revenue in African economies is geared towards recurrent expenditures. Tax revenues are meant to be expended on capital and developmental projects for economies to be sustainable. The findings also imply that governments’ imposition of tax as a means of generating revenue is used to finance projects to meet the needs of citizens, which equally transforms the economic growth of these countries. Therefore, policymakers need to ensure the efficient utilization of revenue generated from taxes to spur growth and development in the considered countries. The finding is consistent with the results of Maganya (2020) for the Tanzanian economy, Gnangnon and Brun (2020) and Gupta, Jalles and Liu (2021). In addition, the results show that the coefficients of tax on exports are positive and negative respectively for all the models. The results imply that increasing export taxes enhances the financial buoyancy of both the African developing countries and developed countries and provides opportunities to generate more income to promote sustainable growth for African economies. By implication, countries that produce local goods and services for export purposes increase their revenue, and other taxes improve their economic development and are likely to increase their chances of achieving the SDGs. This further implies that taxes are strong sources of finance for governments to enhance the standard of living of citizens; create good employment opportunities; and alleviate poverty, thereby enhancing their chances of achieving the SDGs (Griffith, 2018; Lagoarde-Segot, 2020; Gupta et al., 2021).

In a similar vein, the coefficients of taxes on goods and services are negative and positive respectively, but insignificantly related to economic growth and sustainable development across the model specifications. By implication, this result implies that increasing taxes on goods and services results in reduced aggregate demand for goods and services; lowers the incentive to absorb more labor; and alters the distribution of income, resulting in the crippling of the economies of these countries. This further implies that the taxes generated from goods and services suffer because of the poverty and unemployment levels of people in Africa, which may hamper economic growth and the achievement of SDGs on the continent as compared to developed countries with very low poverty and unemployment rates. This may further imply that low-income citizens and countries with high levels of poverty and unemployment consume less vatable goods and services. This may also be because African countries consume more imported goods, resulting in low indirect revenue from indirect taxes, which may hamper the achievement of the SDGs. This is consistent with the findings of Griffiths (2018). Conversely, the estimated coefficients of income, profit and capital taxes are positive and negative for all the models. This finding indicates that improving tax efforts and bases for corporate and income will boost domestic resources mobilization for the analyzed countries, which can spur the growth and development process of these countries. This finding is also an indication that increasing tax bases can expand public revenue and investment through the creation of adequate job opportunities particularly for the growing population in developing countries, and thus promote the actualization of the SDGs. On the other hand, the findings suggest that an increase in income taxes reduces disposable income, business profits and aggregate demand, which adversely affects sustainable economic growth. The findings further imply that higher income taxes create distortions in the distribution of income, which negatively affects growth and sustainable national expenditure. By implication, countries must strike out sustainable tax rates that will not be too burdensome on their citizens so that sustainable tax revenue can be achieved for sustainable expenditure to be incurred and, in the long run, for the SDGs to be achieved. The findings validate the argument of Aghion et al. (2013) and Jones et al. (1993) that the intensification of capital tax can boost growth contingent on shifting the tax burden away from labor using an innovation-based growth model. This outcome is consistent with the findings of Oyinlola and Adedeji (2022) but contradicts the previous studies of Dackehag and Hansson (2012), Macek (2014) and Oyinlola et al. (2020) in their investigations.

4 Conclusion and policy recommendations

The study empirically examined the level of revenue generation through taxation as a source of revenue to support the financing gap between African countries and developed nations. Taxation is a major source of finance that can enable countries in achieving developmental and capital objectives that can transform into economic growth and sustainable development. Since it is a consensus belief that the achievement of the SDGs is a joint effort from all sectors within a country and the collective efforts of all countries by scholars, the authors were motivated to examine sustainable tax revenue and expenditure as a means of achieving SDGs. This was achieved through the GMM approach as a statistical technique employed. The study found that Taxation is an engine room for the achievement of SDGs through the results from the empirical analysis and should be encouraged in African countries. Other sources of revenue are complementary sources that will aid the achievement of the SDGs, and that taxation should be encouraged at all levels through the provision of developmental projects and other social amenities for the enjoyment of citizens. Additionally, the results revealed that the estimated coefficient of grants and other revenue received, other taxes, other revenue, taxes on export, taxes on goods and services, and various taxes on companies and income taxes are positively and negatively related under African and developed countries in all the model specifications, except tax on goods and services. Summarily, the results from both Africa and developed countries are almost similar. It revealed that all sources of taxes as a means of revenue generation to the government are positive and significantly related, except taxes on goods and services. This suggests that the fiscal capacity of nations spurs growth and development, translating into the achievement of the SDGs. Further results from poverty and unemployment as measures of SDGs revealed negative results from both African and developed countries. This infers that improvements in taxes to finance developmental projects help to create jobs and alleviate poverty. This leads to an improvement of the standard of living of citizens, thereby leading to growth, development, and the achievement of the SDGs. This indicates that the increase in grants from different sources also improves the financial stability of an economy, which greatly contributes to the economic development and sustainability of these countries.

Statistically, the average economic growth of African and developed countries stands at 4.262 and 7.371 respectively, with developed countries experiencing greater performance in economic activities as compared to African countries. Furthermore, the average poverty and unemployment value stood at 6.496 and 7.951 in African countries compared to developed countries, which stood at 4.741 and 4.348 respectively. This indicates that African and other developing countries were still grappling with rising poverty and unemployment during the study period. On the tax sustainability indicators, the REV, TAX, TREV, TEXP and TGOG are 2.861, 5.351, 7.391, 14.171 and 5.291 respectively in developed countries, indicating rising tax efforts during the study period. Conversely, the REV, TAX, TREV, TEXP and TGOG were 5.220, 3.540, 3.354, 9.051 and 2.691 respectively in African countries during the study period. Generally, the results revealed that taxes are a significant determinant of economic growth and development as it provides fiscal sustainability to finance the social and physical infrastructure necessary for sustainable development. The study also identified many challenges facing tax revenue generation in the African countries and sub-divided these problems into government-related problems, individual-related problems, and international institutions-related problems. This study can guide policymakers, governments, international institutions, revenue bodies such as South African Revenue Services (SARS) and other stakeholders in their various decision-making endeavors. Governments and other policymakers must ensure the efficient utilization of revenue generated from taxes and other revenues to spur the growth and development of countries of all nations, and they should have Growth-Sustainability-Oriented Fiscal Adjustment Programs and Sustainable Government Expenditure that can help push and re-direct governments to achieve the SDGs in Africa. Further studies can compare the various grants available and other tax revenues from other developing nations to developed countries, or even world-based investigations to ascertain if similar results can be achieved.