Sustainable tax planning: A bibliometric analysis of research trends in the context of governance and regulation

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Abstract

Re-evaluating tax planning is critical to achieving long-term sustainability. Taxation can be a powerful policy tool to balance economic growth, social welfare, and environmental preservation. The purpose of this study is to analyze trends and future directions in sustainable tax planning studies. This study employs bibliometric analysis using the Scopus database and the Bibliometrix R program to examine the dynamics of literature and research topics. The findings show that the dominant themes in sustainable tax planning research include tax, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and sustainability. These themes indicate a need for further research on the relationship between sustainability and tax to provide insights and recommendations for policymakers, business practitioners, and academics. One potential implementation is to use environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors to mask tax aggressiveness and avoidance. Government policies and regulations play an important role in shaping the tax landscape and promoting sustainable tax planning. Governments can use taxation as a policy instrument to incentivize or discourage behaviors that contribute to sustainable development as highlighted in the studies of Bashir et al. (2022), Wang et al. (2022), and Cheng et al. (2021). This research contributes to the understanding of sustainable tax planning research and highlights the importance of considering ESG factors in tax policy.

Keywords: Bibliometrics, Taxation, Sustainability, Sustainable Tax Planning

Authors’ individual contribution: Conceptualization — E.E.; Methodology — E.E.; Software — B.F.C.M.; Validation — E.E. and R.S.; Formal Analysis — B.F.C.M.; Investigation — B.F.C.M.; Resources — E.E. and E.S.; Data Curation — E.E. and B.F.C.M.; Writing — Original Draft — B.F.C.M.; Writing — Review & Editing — E.E. and E.S.; Visualization — B.F.C.M.; Project Administration — B.F.C.M. and E.S.; Funding Acquisition — E.E. and E.S.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

JEL Classification: G30, H26, Q56

Received: 03.08.2024
Revised: 20.11.2024; 16.06.2025
Accepted: 10.07.2025
Published online: 15.07.2025

How to cite this paper: Ekawati, E., Manurung, B. F. C., & Setyowati, E. (2025). Sustainable tax planning: A bibliometric analysis of research trends in the context of governance and regulation. Journal of Governance & Regulation, 14(3), 19–30. https://doi.org/10.22495/jgrv14i3art2