The principles of taxation are:
- Equality or fairness: A good tax system must have the features of equality and fairness. ...
- Convenience: A good tax system should be made in such a way that it is convenient to collect and convenient to pay. ...
- Flexibility: Any good tax system has to be flexible in nature. ...
- Certainty: A good tax system must be certain else it is not a good tax system. ...
What are the principles of a good tax system?
- Regressive tax: A tax is regressive if those with low incomes pay a larger share of income in taxes than those with higher incomes. ...
- Proportional tax: A tax is proportional if all taxpayers pay the same share of income in taxes. ...
- Progressive tax: A progressive tax requires higher-income individuals to pay a higher share of their income in taxes. ...
What are the different theories of taxation?
THEORIES OF TAXATION A taxation theory may be derived on the assumption that there need to be any relationship between tax paid and benefits received from state activities. In this we have two theories, namely, the Socio political theory and the Expediency Theory. A taxation theory may be based on a link between tax liability and state activities.
What are the various objectives of taxation?
Different objectives of taxation may be summed up as under: Objective of raising revenue: The basic and primary objective of taxation is raising revenue. Enormous amount needed by modern governments for National defence, creation of infrastructure and social upliftment schemes make regular and systematic resource mobilization compulsory.
What are the benefits received principle of taxation?
Benefits Received Principle Definition admin 2021-02-11T15:05:27+00:00. The benefits received principle of taxation is the theory that citizens who have received advantages from the government (in the form of public goods and services) should pay for them. For example, those who use a certain road system should pay for maintaining those roads.

What are the two primary principles of taxation?
These are: (1) the belief that taxes should be based on the individual's ability to pay, known as the ability-to-pay principle, and (2) the benefit principle, the idea that there should be some equivalence between what the individual pays and the benefits he subsequently receives from governmental activities.
What are the 5 principles of a good tax system?
A good tax system should meet five basic conditions: fairness, adequacy, simplicity, transparency, and administrative ease. Although opinions about what makes a good tax system will vary, there is general consensus that these five basic conditions should be maximized to the greatest extent possible.
What are the four principle of a taxation?
The principles of good taxation were formulated many years ago. In The Wealth of Nations (1776), Adam Smith argued that taxation should follow the four principles of fairness, certainty, convenience and efficiency.
What are the seven principles of taxation?
They are the principles of convenience, simplicity, economy, equity, certainty, flexibility and stability. 1. Convenience: A good tax system must be based on the ability to pay. That is, the burden of tax must within the tax payers' financial ability.
What is a good tax system?
A good tax system is one which has predominantly good taxes and which fulfills most of the canons of taxation: it must yield sufficient revenue, but cause minimum aggregate sacrifice to the people and minimum obstruction to incentives for production.
What are the five major objectives of taxation?
Truly speaking, in the modern world, taxation is used as an instrument of economic policy. It affects the total volume of production, consumption, investment, choice of industrial location and techniques, balance of payments, distribution of income, etc.
What should a good tax system ensure?
The purpose of a good tax system for a developing economy is not merely to raise revenue for the Government but also to ensure that burden of taxes falls more on the rich. This requires that the rates of progressive direct taxes on income, wealth, expenditure, capital gains etc., must be sufficiently high.
What are the objective of a good tax system?
The primary goal of a national tax system is to generate revenues to pay for the expenditures of government at all levels. Because public expenditures tend to grow at least as fast as the national product, taxes, as the main vehicle of government finance, should produce revenues that grow correspondingly.
What are the taxation principles?
Taxation Principles are the set of guidelines that help the lawmakers and governing bodies to formulate strategies and plan their execution to ensure devising a robust tax structure which is aimed at not only increasing revenues but also bring social and economic equality to its citizens.
Why is taxation important?
Importance. Though the taxation system at large is focused on increasing the revenue of the government, it can also be used to revive the economy. Let’s discuss this aspect in detail. Public expenditure tends to increase as the economy grows or more quantifiably as the GDP numbers grow.
How does taxation help the economy?
Public expenditure tends to increase as the economy grows or more quantifiably as the GDP numbers grow. Taxation is the only mechanism that makes sure the revenues of the lawmakers increase proportionately. This growth is indispensable as to maintain the economic growth, the government must spend on infrastructure which acts as a foundation on which economic growth survives.
What is the only mechanism that makes sure the revenues of the lawmakers increase proportionately?
Taxation is the only mechanism that makes sure the revenues of the lawmakers increase proportionately. This growth is indispensable as to maintain the economic growth, the government must spend on infrastructure which acts as a foundation on which economic growth survives.
What is the ability to pay principle?
This recommendation is based on the notion that the tax burden should be distributed in such a way that it takes care of the capacity of the person to bear that tax liability. The taxes that suit this notion are income taxes, while the service charges can be an example of the former category. However, an important argument here is that the individual tax bearing capacity should be deduced not based on what he earns but based on what he spends or consumes. Whatever may be the thinking process, but the ability to pay weighs heavily on equal distribution guidelines, and that’s why we see a slab based structure for income tax calculation.
Why is regulating body important in tax structure?
While framing tax structure, the regulating body should ensure that these are managed with the utmost accounting framework and liabilities. These should be crystal clear without any ambiguity, should be stable for the economy and society in general, cost-effective, and convenient. These factors become more of a threshold rather than just a guiding principle in developing markets compared to developed ones. This is because of illiteracy, lack of proper channels to resolve ambiguities, and also prevalent administrative challenges.
Should there be discrimination between savings and expenditures?
There should be no discrimination between any two persons regarding their savings, expenditure, and deductions claimed but should be leviable with the same income tax. read more. . This concept is based on the assumption that individuals at similar levels should have the same tax obligation.
What are the principles of taxation?
The principles of taxation are: Equality or fairness: A good tax system must have the features of equality and fairness. This simply means that the tax burden has to be equally distributed among all the tax payers. Here, the tax should be imposed on tax payers based on their ability to pay.
Why is taxation important?
Taxation is very important in every nation as it is used to achieve a variety of important things. For example, we all know how taxation helps in raising revenue for the government. As a matter of fact taxation is considered one of the best ways for government to raise revenue to run the nation. Government imposes taxes in order to increase its revenue. But in imposing taxes, government makes sure that the taxes imposed meet certain vital conditions. These conditions are what are referred to as the principles. These principles of taxation are basically the rules that govern taxation. For a tax system to be considered good, the tax system must meet the rules governing it. If a tax fails to meet these principles or rules, then it is considered a bad tax system.
Why do tax payers have to be certain they are going to pay taxes?
The tax payers must be certain that they are going to pay taxes so that they can make adequate preparations towards the payment of their taxes. When dealing with the issue of certainty, the tax payer must know when he will pay the tax, how much he is going to pay as tax, the mode of payment, etc.
What is considered a bad tax system?
For a tax system to be considered good, the tax system must meet the rules governing it. If a tax fails to meet these principles or rules, then it is considered a bad tax system.
Why is it important to have a good tax system?
Convenience: A good tax system should be made in such a way that it is convenient to collect and convenient to pay. We already know how unpleasant paying taxes can be for people, which is the reason why it is imperative that a good tax system is made as convenient as possible for the tax payers. A good example of tax system ...
What makes a good tax system?
Flexibility: Any good tax system has to be flexible in nature. By being flexible, the tax system should be able to be easily increased or reduced as the situation demands. Basically, whenever changes are required, the good tax system should be able to undergo changes easily.
Why does the government impose taxes?
Government imposes taxes in order to increase its revenue. But in imposing taxes, government makes sure that the taxes imposed meet certain vital conditions. These conditions are what are referred to as the principles. These principles of taxation are basically the rules that govern taxation.
Who developed the principles of taxation?
The principles of taxation, that is, the appropriate criteria to be employed in the development and evaluation of the tax structure, have received attention from the days of Adam Smith.
What are the three major principles or desirable characteristics of the tax system?
In terms of these goals, three major principles or desirable characteristics of the tax system have come to be generally accepted: 1. Economic effects: The tax structure must be established in such a way as to avoid interference with the attainment of the optimum. 2.
What is the main objective of taxation?
The major objective of taxation is to raise revenues. But other objectives are also important in the design of a tax system. The principle of taxation can be chosen only in terms of the goals which are accepted as the appropriate objectives of the economic system.
What is the most important source of government revenue?
The most important source of government revenue is tax . A tax is a compulsory payment made by individuals and companies to the government on the basis of certain well-established rules or criteria such as income earned, property owned, capital gains made or expenditure incurred (money spent) on domestic and imported articles.
Why do we need to establish taxes?
The rule requires that taxes be established in such a manner as to minimise the real costs of collections, in terms of resources required as in terms of the direct inconvenience caused to the taxpayers. In fact, different writers have formulated the different theories, at different times, relating to the equitable distribution of the burden of taxation among the people.
Why do we tax cigarettes?
Likewise, a tax on cigarettes will serve a two-fold purpose: raising revenue and discouraging consumption of this harmful item. In both the cases, the market is disturbed but in a desirable way.
When a public service is non-rival and non-exclusive (a pure public good) is the benefit principle?
When a publicly provided service is non-rival and nonexclusive (a pure public good) the benefit principle is just a theoretical concept because the benefits cannot be measured.
Why is it important that the assembly which votes the taxes, either general or local, should be elected exclusively by those who?
It is also important that the assembly which votes the taxes, either general or local, should be elected exclusively by those who pay something for the taxes imposed. Those who pay no taxes, disposing by their vote of other people’s money, have every motive to be lavish and none to economize.
What would happen if the government taxed 20 percent?
They argue that almost all of the money now taxed away above that rate would be invested in new equipment and plants, instead of being spent for nonproductive items as is done by government. Thus if the persons who earn the money could spend it as they wish, the result would be more production, jobs, and incomes—and also more tax revenue.
Is the current tax system a departure from the principle of taxation?
Politically, our current procedure is clearly a total departure from the principle of taxation on which this nation was founded.
Do rich people pay more than poor people?
Under proportional taxation, it is true, of course, that the rich man would still pay more money than the poor man. But at any rate, each would then receive equal treatment under the law, in both war and peace. That is, each conscript would serve the same time in the army, regardless of military ability; and each taxpayer would be subject to the same rate of taxation, regardless of economic ability.
Is proportional taxation a principle?
While the principle of absolute equality has sometimes prevailed, the "equality of rate" or proportional principle has usually been followed . Taxes on real and personal property are current examples. The person with a $20,000 home pays twice as much in taxes as does the person with a $10,000 home—not five or six times as much merely because he owns more property than his neighbor. Sales taxes are also in proportion to purchases. The social security tax is a combination of equal and proportional. The tariff tax has always been in proportion to the amount imported. And so on.
What was the purpose of taxation in the 19th century?
Purposes of taxation. During the 19th century the prevalent idea was that taxes should serve mainly to finance the government. In earlier times, and again today, governments have utilized taxation for other than merely fiscal purposes.
Why are taxes levied?
Taxes are levied in almost every country of the world, primarily to raise revenue for government expenditures, although they serve other purposes as well. This article is concerned with taxation in general, its principles, its objectives, and its effects; specifically, the article discusses the nature and purposes of taxation, ...
Why are payroll taxes called contributions?
Because of the likely link between taxes paid and benefits received , payroll taxes are sometimes called “contributions” (as in the United States ). Nevertheless, the payments are commonly compulsory, and the link to benefits is sometimes quite weak.
Why are payroll taxes levied on social security?
There are, however, important exceptions: payroll taxes, for example, are commonly levied on labour income in order to finance retirement benefits, medical payments, and other social security programs —all of which are likely to benefit the taxpayer.
What are the most important sources of revenue?
In modern economies taxes are the most important source of governmental revenue. Taxes differ from other sources of revenue in that they are compulsory levies and are unrequited—i.e., they are generally not paid in exchange for some specific thing, such as a particular public service, the sale of public property, or the issuance of public debt. While taxes are presumably collected for the welfare of taxpayers as a whole, the individual taxpayer’s liability is independent of any specific benefit received. There are, however, important exceptions: payroll taxes, for example, are commonly levied on labour income in order to finance retirement benefits, medical payments, and other social security programs—all of which are likely to benefit the taxpayer. Because of the likely link between taxes paid and benefits received, payroll taxes are sometimes called “contributions” (as in the United States ). Nevertheless, the payments are commonly compulsory, and the link to benefits is sometimes quite weak. Another example of a tax that is linked to benefits received, if only loosely, is the use of taxes on motor fuels to finance the construction and maintenance of roads and highways, whose services can be enjoyed only by consuming taxed motor fuels.
