HISTORY AND OBJECTIVES OF TAX LAW essays

HISTORY AND OBJECTIVES OF TAX LAW essays Tax Law in our country is as old as the constitution itself and the history of taxes in this land goes back to the days of British colonial rule. One thing, which must be remembered, is that tax law id directly connected with government revenues. Higher the taxes, greater the revenues. For this reason, taxes are used as a good source of government's income. Revenue collection is usually the most important purpose behind the imposition of a new tax or increase in the present ones. However revenue collection is not the sole objective even though it is certainly the most important one. There are other reasons for which taxes are either increased or decreased. Tax law is actually one of the very few fiscal measures that government has to control the financial markets. Apart from its main objective, which is revenue for the government, taxes also help in controlling economic activity in the country and are often used by the government to control the flow of money in the markets. During the colonial days, when British rulers needed money for their war with France, taxes were levied on poor colonies, which did not enjoy any representation in the government. This led to the famous no taxation without representation' debate. After the American Revolution, the country had no deferral taxes for some time since the central government did not have the power to levy taxes. Each state was autonomous and was seen as a separate sovereign power that could levy the taxes according to the needs of their respective governments. Since there was no clear constitution for more than a decade after the independence, federal tax law was non-existent and only state taxes existed. However after the adoption of Constitution in 1789, federal government became more powerful as the Constitution recognized its right to "lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, pay the Debts and ...