A Review of Canons of Taxation: India's Perspective

Adam smith proposed the canons of taxation for the efficient tax structure. These canons are well recognized and form the basic guideline for the tax system of any country. Indian tax system is one of established tax structure in the world. It has under gone many changes since 1961, the year in which current tax law came into the force. Is prevailing tax structure accommodating the canons of taxation as proposed by Adam Smith? In the present paper, these canons of taxation are reviewed critically with respect to existing Indian tax policies. The discrepancies or deviations observed are reported in a constructive way to eliminate the existing loop holes and build better and inclusive tax system.