868 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
sort which spreads so widely, the Hon. the Finance Minister ought to have at least made a guess with the figures that are available, or at least asked the Board of Revenue to make some investigation and to give him an idea as to whether the yield of this tax would be commensurate with the troubles that he was taking. I have been looking into the report of the Board of Revenue and I find that there are certain figures which the Finance Department could have used for the purpose of telling us, now that the rates of duty are fixed and attached to the Bill, as to what is likely to be the yield. The Board of Revenue does give figures about income tax. It also gives figures as to the total number of joint families that exist in India; it not only gives the total amout of the income tax that was collected from joint families but also the figures of the total number of joint families which were assessed and the total amount of income which was shown by them in their returns. Sir, I think this tax is going to affect to a very large extent the joint families in this country and with the information which is shown in the report of the Board of Revenue for the year 1950-51, it would have been possible for us to know what exactly the Hon. Minister expects from this source as revenue. We would have been then in a much better position to say with all alacrity that no matter what the trouble is, the tax may be levied. But if in the end we find that the amount realised is not commensurate with the measure, the Hon. the Finance Minister himself may regret the trouble that he has taken in bringing forward this Bill.
Shri B. C. Ghose (West Bengal) : Then he will raise the duty.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Another thing to which I would like to make a reference is this. There is a feeling that there is a great deal of difference between the estate duty as such and income tax as such, and while there might be some feeling against the income tax there cannot be such a feeling against the estate duty, the difference being that the income tax is a tax on the income and the estate duty is a tax on capital. Superficially, this distinction no doubt is correct because when we levy the estate duty we do not take out of the income,