Now, Sir, the incidence of taxation is the heaviest in India. India had never faced even in times of war, such an incidence of taxation as it is bearing today. And, the Governments are rendering the least service in exchange for these taxes This House is the highest authority vested with all powers of Sovereignty; we are sitting as the Supreme Court to decide whether we can permit the provincial Governments to go on taxing the people without any ceiling limits, Because there is no ceiling limit on this sales tax, they can go on raising the tax and ultimately there may come a time when the people may not be in a position to give much, and our taxes in the Centre would consequently be adversely affected. If the provincial Governments go on raising their taxes at the present speed, the result would be that total paying capacity of the people would be exploited by provincial Governments and the Central Government would thereby suffer. My point is that if we do not fix a limit, the provincial Governments would go on taxing, and we would be doing sheer injustice to the people who are at our mercy and who will have no right to protest or withhold these taxes. They would only have to draw solace from the fact that they were after all being taxed by the persons for whom they had voted. This is “ballot box democracy,” which will tell in that manner on the people. I therefore, submit, Sir, that a limit of six pies per Rupee which comes to Rs. 3-2-0 per cent. should be fixed so that the provinces may not enhance the rate of this tax.
