A fast-paced study on India's public finances

In places, Dr Rao rushes through the conclusions as well, not giving enough time to explain the rationale behind the conclusion

In 1776, when Adam Smith laid down his canons of taxation, the idea was simple: How much tax could the state extract without burdening the masses? Moreover, his concept was also an attempt at maximising state revenues. In India, a few millennia before Smith, Kautaliya had laid down his treatise of taxation, highlighting the state’s role in taxation and principles of equity. While discussions on the role of the government have raged ever since, it was only in 1958 that Richard Musgrave formalised a theory of public finance. The work has been the bedrock of theories in public finance. Musgrave’s