The Punjab Income Tax

THE Government review on the report of the Income Tax Administration for the triennium ending March 1917 repeats the official view that the war has made the people more prosperous. The mercantile classes are believed to have made large profits on old stock of imports. But Government does not probably take note of the effect of the cessation of imports and the great reduction in the volume of trade. We read: "Harvests have been fully satisfactory and as agriculturists have obtained unusually good prices for their products, there has been plenty of money spend on commodities, useful and otherwise." Government has made an interesting comparison between income-tax and excise revenue. While the former has doubled itself in 29 years, the latter has risen by more than 450 per cent. in the same period. It is regretted that people of higher incomes are not adequately taxed and a confession is made that "there is still a tendency on the part of Tehsildars to ever-assess a small shopkeeper and let off "the bigger trader much too lightly."