In an age where rich and vivid information is ever more easily available to the common man, public opinion about some matters including socio-political issues is dramatically different, and much more mature, than what it used to be about a decade ago.
Taxation is one such socio-political issue that interests every individual member of a nation, even to the extent of leading to heavy scrutiny of the very grounds on which a State claims rights to levy and collect compulsory taxes from its citizens. Libertarians in many democracies are heard questioning the very moral right of an elected government to continue to tax its citizens when it is own role in some aspects of public life (viz market and industry) is not open to scrutiny. Despite these developments, devising newer methods of taxation has attracted academic and political attention and is even getting hailed for its welcome breakthroughs and reforms in financing governments.
The need of the hour, however, is to question the very right of governments to continue to tax in newer ways amid trends of increasingly head-heavy governments - those governments whose higher tiers are heavier because of being less decentralized.
The maturation of conventional methods of taxation into VAT in 2005, and into the newly proposed GST since 2009, is a case in point. Lately it was also reported that the NDA government had offered as incentives to States endorsing the GST regime ways to make-up for losses they would incur due to GST. The regime is so strict in its intent that this incentive has been rolled out to subside opposition in Rajysabha, not really to compensate for the potential losses States would incur.
On similar lines is a hearsay driven revolution being orchestrated by some migrant netizens across the country, especially in those cities that receive lot of middle-class migrants. This particular revolution, apparently originating from Bengaluru, claims to raise its voice for a "One Nation, One Road Tax" regime. The petitioner of this change not only twists the words of a piece of legislation on this website, but also subtly bases his argument on a recent opinion expressed by the NDA government to sweep all RTOs into a centrally controlled authority - a mess actually.
Be it GST or the Road Tax bill, moves in this direction by the central government are bound to jeopardize fiscal stature of State governments. Any legislation made or amended to deprive States of the power to collect taxes under its own legitimate subjects would not only deprive States of funds but also constrain them politically in the long run. The State government loses its rightful hold over State subjects this way. This is not good at all for Federalism that is promised to be upheld in this democracy.
Taxation is one such socio-political issue that interests every individual member of a nation, even to the extent of leading to heavy scrutiny of the very grounds on which a State claims rights to levy and collect compulsory taxes from its citizens. Libertarians in many democracies are heard questioning the very moral right of an elected government to continue to tax its citizens when it is own role in some aspects of public life (viz market and industry) is not open to scrutiny. Despite these developments, devising newer methods of taxation has attracted academic and political attention and is even getting hailed for its welcome breakthroughs and reforms in financing governments.
The need of the hour, however, is to question the very right of governments to continue to tax in newer ways amid trends of increasingly head-heavy governments - those governments whose higher tiers are heavier because of being less decentralized.
The maturation of conventional methods of taxation into VAT in 2005, and into the newly proposed GST since 2009, is a case in point. Lately it was also reported that the NDA government had offered as incentives to States endorsing the GST regime ways to make-up for losses they would incur due to GST. The regime is so strict in its intent that this incentive has been rolled out to subside opposition in Rajysabha, not really to compensate for the potential losses States would incur.
On similar lines is a hearsay driven revolution being orchestrated by some migrant netizens across the country, especially in those cities that receive lot of middle-class migrants. This particular revolution, apparently originating from Bengaluru, claims to raise its voice for a "One Nation, One Road Tax" regime. The petitioner of this change not only twists the words of a piece of legislation on this website, but also subtly bases his argument on a recent opinion expressed by the NDA government to sweep all RTOs into a centrally controlled authority - a mess actually.
Be it GST or the Road Tax bill, moves in this direction by the central government are bound to jeopardize fiscal stature of State governments. Any legislation made or amended to deprive States of the power to collect taxes under its own legitimate subjects would not only deprive States of funds but also constrain them politically in the long run. The State government loses its rightful hold over State subjects this way. This is not good at all for Federalism that is promised to be upheld in this democracy.
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