The first part of my amendment requires that a tax on the sale or purchase of goods should be levied only when the sale or purchase is made to or by a consumer. The second part of my amendment authorises Parliament to fix the maximum rate at which such a tax may be levied. It may be said that the general economic condition of the people will impose a limit on the power of the Government of any State to fix the rate of the sales tax. It is very difficult in the first place to determine what the economic rate should be. In the second place, if the rate is to be determined only by experience, that is by following the method of trial and error, the proceeds of a tax may be large in the case of a particular commodity, but, on the other hand the sale of some other commodity might go down. The matter cannot therefore be left to be judged entirely by the Finance Minister of a State. It is important enough to require to be dealt with at this stage.
