Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/329

 INDIAN INCOME I'A X 815 an income tax would have come, but would not have come so early as it did. (b) Idia und the British Crown. probably A careful examination of the accounts of he Eas India Com- pany for he weny years preceding he grea Revolutions of 1857 a he end of which India was ransferred o he British Crown .from he hands of a dividend distributing concern, shows ha all hese weny years were no necessarily years of defici in Indian finances as is commonly believed. To be specific, he las seven or eight years of. he Com- pany's rule show an average annual surplus of over 1,000,000, while 'he actual surplus for 1856-57 ending on 80th April was no less han 886,000.  Bu he Huiny in Hay 1857 disorganised and paralyzed the revenue system in almos he whole of Northern and Eastern per,ions of India, and precipitated a huge defici for he succeeding years. A resor o new sources of revenue and to rerenchmen in public expenditure was welcomed .by he new Imperial Govern- ment. We are for he firs ime ready  discuss he beginnings of a real modern income ax in India.  The year 1860 marks a new epoch in he Indian financial annals, no only for he inroducion of he income ax, but. also for he genuine aemp on he par of Hr. James Wilson and his two associates, purposely drawn from he British Treasury  inro- duce a sound financial system. Budgets and financial saemens were made more accurate and rusworhy han before, no ha here was no system under the .1 It was really a revolution in as muoh as the new Imperial Government in Indra was made directly responsible, at least teohnieally to the majority party in the House of Commons. S East Indht Aoeeunts stud Papers, 185-1858. a By Indht is meant only British India. The French and Portuguese possessions in Indim, the semi-independent states of Nepal and Bhutan, the various feudatory Native States, oompriain8 in all more than one third area of the whole of India and more than one-fifth of the whole population are not subject to the Indian income tax. All this means few assessees and tonsil yield from the trax.