Thangavel.....

When we look at the Income tax history in India, we realise how progressive we were long back even before the british. There are references found in the works of Manu Smirthi and Arthasastra apart from our own Thirukural. As we stand today we have an Act of 1961 which has in origins from 1860. To have a better perspective we need to know about a British Statesman by name, Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth who was the Prime Minister from 1801 to 1804. The tax was initially levied on Land which was used for agriculture and the collection was in kind. Income tax was thought to be a government instruction into the private matters. To overcome this in 1707, when the Kingdom of Great Britain came into being, a Window tax, wherein the tax was collected basis the number of Windows a property had was introduced.                                              In 1798, Income tax was levied by William Pitt the younger who was the then PM of United Kingdom (youngest prime minister at th