We regret deeply to see a statement that the Indian
Govern- ment has • proposed to reimpose the Income-tax, in order to abolish the cotton duties. The step is a most dangerous one. India is not a democratic country, but a country hierarchically organised, and believing in the old doctrine that those who are at the top are put there by Heaven. The hostility of the upper class is, therefore, most formidable, and of their loathing for this tax there can be no doubt whatever. They detest it as democratic, as inquisitorial, and as giving power to low officials to denounce them. There is, moreover, no need for the tax. A tax on betel, an injurious luxury, as visible when growing as a lop-plant, would produce a million, while the sale of the right to sell tobacco on the French plan would yield two millions. We trust Lord Hartington will consult Lord Northbrook, and make some inquiry about the incidence of the Indian spirit duties, before he sanctions any such proposal.
Previous page
