Does taxation of digital financial services adversely affect the financial inclusion agenda? Lessons from a developing country

Abstract

Despite strong evidence of the critical role of mobile money technology in deepening financial inclusion, the impact of taxing mobile money transactions on digital and financial inclusion remains an unexplored area of research. By drawing on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model, this research presents a rich insight into the determinants of mobile money adoption and the moderating effect of taxation (e-levy) on mobile money adoption. The purposive data sampling technique was employed to collect data from 287 mobile money users. The structural equation modeling – partial least square method was applied to test the hypotheses of this study. The findings show that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions significantly influence behavioral intention. Consequently, behavioral intention shows a significant relationship with the actual use of mobile money. Furthermore, regarding the moderating effect of taxation, the findings show that taxation negatively and significantly influences the actual use of mobile money. Finally, the implications of the results to tax policymakers (government) and mobile money operators have been discussed.