Tax on paper

PAPER is one of those commodities whose price has a more or less direct bearing on the spread of knowledge and education; and, therefore, any tax on paper is a tax on the spread of knowledge and education. At the same time, the paper industry is one of those industries the development of which will be of the utmost benefit to the country as a whole. While, therefore, on principle, we are opposed to the levying of a further tax on paper, the importance of the industry is such that every reasonable facility should be offered by the government for the development of an indigenous paper industry, including even the levy of protective duties, if and so far as it may be necessary, so long as the effect of it will not be to seriously interfere with the advancement of knowledge and education. Hitherto, most of the Indian mills had been manufacturing paper from sabai grass; and the report of the Tariff Board on the question of granting protection to the paper industry must be a cause of grave disappointment to those interested in such mills. The board holds that these mills have not been able to make out a case for protection under the conditions laid down by the Fiscal Commission, as they have no natural advantage in competition with imported paper, but, on the contrary, are at a disadvantage in so far as the cost of the grass and chemicals used by them for the manufacture of paper is much more than the cost of raw materials to the foreign manufacturer. Nor, in the opinion of the board, is there any likelihood of the mills which use grass, except in one locality in northern India where the conditions are particularly favourable, being eventually able to dispense with protection and stand on their own legs.