Empirical studies usually analyse the relationship between an economy’s trade sector and tax revenue in developing countries through the e"ect of trade liberalization on tax revenue. This paper takes a di"erent angle by examining the impact of export upgrading strategies (export diversi#cation and improvement in export quality) on non-resource tax revenue. The panel data-set covers a sample of 172 countries, including both developed and developing countries, spanning the period 1980–2010. The analysis is conducted both on the entire sample and sub-samples. The #ndings indicate that export product upgrading exerts a positive and signi#cant e"ect on non-resource tax revenue, including for the sub-samples considered, with the exception of low-income countries for which we observe mixed results. Moreover, countries which upgrade their export products in a context of trade openness consistently experience higher non-resource tax revenue, both in the short and long term.