Mr. President, Sir, article 264 has to be read with article 266 which I suppose will be moved presently under amendment 272. The two articles embody a principle of mutuality, namely, the property of the Union shall not be subject to tax by the State and the property of the State shall not be subject to tax by the Union. That is a principle which I accept. But when the property of the Union is exempted from taxation by the State it also means exemption from taxation by any authority within the State. I also agree that should be so, because if the local authorities were left free to tax the property of the Union as they like, it will be easy for the State merely to assign the tax to the local authority which will enable the local authority to tax Union property which the State itself could not tax. I have, therefore no quarrel with the principle embodied in articles 264 and 266. There are, however, two points on which I wish to draw the attention of the House.
