7
REVIEW
REPORT OF THE TAXATION ENQUIRY COMMITTEE, 1926*
Report of the Taxation Inquiry Committee 1926-1
COMMISSIONS to report and committees to enquire are a peculiar feature of the English system of government. It is a cardinal principle of English Parliamentary action that in the matter of social and economic legislation it never takes a leap in the dark. Committees and commissions are necessary preliminaries of an Act of Parliament. In this it follows the well known maxim that knowledge is power. One is happy to find that this principle of English Parliamentary action has been followed in India and our politicians, who so often oppose the appointment of Commissions and Committees, cannot be said to be acting in the best interests of the country.
In the case of the Taxation Enquiry Committee, however, it was the Government which was trying to shut it out and when it did institute an enquiry, it was not the one demanded by the Assembly. What the Assembly wanted was an Enquiry into the taxable capacity of the people and this the Government did not want to face for fear that such an enquiry might reveal that the burden of taxation upon the people was disproportionate to their taxable capacity. But when public opinion insisted upon the institution of such an enquiry, it, by a species of circumvention, split the enquiry into two parts : (1) The taxation Enquiry Committee and (2) The Economic Enquiry Committee, with the result that the utility of either committee’s report has been considerably diminished.
The terms of reference to the Taxation Enquiry Committee directed it (1) to examine the manner in which the burden of taxation is distributed at present between the different classes of
- The Servant of India. Vol IX, No. 13, April 29, 1926 pp. 163-64.