The power to tax is a power of the sovereign. Tax cannot be levied or collected except by the authority of law sanctioned by the sovereign. However, in democracies, the sovereign power to sanction laws are derived from the authorization by the citizens.
"If anyone shall claim a power to lay and levy taxes on the people, by his own authority, without the consent of the People, he thereby invades the Fundamental Law of Property, and subverts the end of Govemment. For what property have l in that which another may by right take, when he pleases to himself?" -John Locke
It begs the question - why should citizens provide the consent to impose a tax on themselves? Simply put, a tax is the monetary sum that the governments need in order to sustain the cost of their operations. In this regard, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. had described taxes as the price that that people pay for a civilized society.2 In Cooley's words: "The power is inherent in the people because the sustenance of the government requires contributions from them."
Therefore, taxation in democracies, as a practice and in law, occurs through the sanction from the citizens. However, the agreeability of a citizen or as a group with specific taxation laws may vary with the impact of such laws on their socio-economic existence.
Many a tax provisions are enacted to check tax evasion and to create
legitimate compliance mechanisms. However, a plaguing issue that the
citizens may face with taxation laws is the ease of tax compliances.
In India, prior to introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST),
the indirect tax regime was fragmented and dualistic. Multiple taxes were
levied by the central and state governments on the economic activities
which had a cascading effect on the taxpayers. This caused a lack of
clarity, uncertainty and resultant litigation. Inter alia, to remedy this, GST
was introduced as a single tax on the supply of goods or services or both,
at each stage of the supply chain. It aims to integrate the Indian market
into a single common market.
This new regime of taxation necessitates the emergence of new legal
literature and active engagement with such laws. The task at hand is
arduous. The intricate world of taxation, a new domain often viewed with
trepidation and uncertainty, requires a nuanced understanding. It involves
explaining complex concepts in simple and readable form while traversing
through voluminous legal documents. Complex academic text may not
only fail to achieve such objective, but cause further damage, by
complicating the already complex content of taxation laws. Particularly, we
need to move away from the practice of producing voluminous
commentaries which are essentially compendiums of statutes and
judgemernts.
Separately, in today's date, massive volume of information is in
circulation on the internet on any given topic. While this has increased the
ease of access of information, the task of locating reliable and authentic
writing has been rendered difficult. Thus, while retaining simplicity of the
text is important, such new legal literature is also required to be reliable.
The need of the hour is simple writing that can be easily relied upon by legal
practitioners, assesses and students of law, alike. Ramakrishnan Viraraghavan's, "The Law of
Goods and Services Act", is an example of such writing. Through this work, the author
attempts to retain an original form of writing instead of replicating excerpts of the law in
the form of
compendiums of judgments. In the author's words, he has attempted to
provide an "internet-age commentary'.
It is commendable that the author has managed to capture such
voluminous and complex tenets of GST laws in his original and simple style
of writing. I am hopeful that the book wil contribute significantly to the
literature on taxation laws and enrich the knowledge of the readers on the
subject. I hope that the author's work inspires the present generation of
jurists and students, igniting a deep interest in taxation law, particularly,
and the tenets of justice, generally.
New Delhi:
July 20, 2023Sanjiv
Khanna
.png)
