His work on economics of modern taxation is still accepted as the pioneering work on the subject. Every tax ought to be levied at the time, or in the manner, in which it is most likely to be convenient for the contributor to pay it.… IV. Our tax system, on the other hand, largely remains a state extraction mechanism with large efficiency losses, narrow and shallow base, high degree of horizontal inequity and minimal compliance. The other major sources are withholding taxes and tax collection from captive large taxpayers in the form of sales and advance taxes. Tax offices and tax officers, in the wider world, are fast becoming faceless and nameless.
